I can just imagine the pressure mounted on John and Love Kumuyi from these stuck-in-the-mud church leaders to get to this point. I won't be surprised if the Lagos church fabricated the apology themselves so their cherished tradition can be upheld in the eyes of those they lead around by the nose. God help us all.
During a programme last weekend at one of the Deeper Life Churches in Lagos, the host pastor read out a letter of apology from John and Love Kumuyi addressed to the overall Church Secretary and directed to the church leadership and members, stating that they took full responsibility for any controversy arising out of their wedding. Read the full text of the letter and see the video below.
June 22nd, 2013,
The Church Secretary,
Deeper Christain Life Ministry
LETTER OF APOLOGY
John and Love Kumuyi, write to express our deepest and most sincere apology for the turn of events, that have resulted on our traditional and wedding ceremonies, that took place in Jamaica on 13th June and 15th June, 2013 respectively.
We unreservedly and wholeheartedly state, that we did not intend that our acts or omissions will in any way undermine the great works that God has done through the Deeper Christian Life Ministry Worldwide and more specifically , through our Father in the Lord, the General Superintendent (GS).
We also use this medium to profusely and sincerely apologies to the general superintendent for the embarrassment and heartaches our actions have caused him, more so that he had earlier declined to be at the events.
We acknowledge that we may have been distracted by cultural differences, as both of us have been outside the country for the past two decades. This notwithstanding, we fully accept that having being nurtured, taught and brought up with the sound teaching of the word of God, we should have been able to draw the line, which we failed to do.
We have now realized the effects of our actions and omission and do plead with the church for forgiveness and also appealing that any action that should be taken be directed at John and Love, as we take this time to prayerfully reflect on our actions.
We take full responsibility for what happened, and this action should in no way be blamed on the GS, or the leaders of the church in Nigeria, United States, Jamaica or United Kingdom and beyond.
Yours Sincerely,
John and Love Kumuyi
Personally, I am of the opinion that Love Odih was very modestly dressed for a wedding occasion, and wish her and her husband only the very best of married life. I wrote the series of posts I did to help the conversation along online, hoping it would spark a similar conversation within the Deeper Life church about their heavily patriarchal stand on women's dressing, and how it could be affecting the morale of women and relationships in the church. When I listened to Pastor Kumuyi's video here on what is essential Christian principles and how traditions of men can be changed, I was heartened. But it seems even him can do nothing at this stage. The so-called church leaders have just made it clear by this 'apology' that they won't entertain any conversation.
