William Kumuyi, general superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry, has asked some “overzealous” ushers who usually enforce head covering for ladies in his church.
The clergyman also reprimanded some members of his congregation for always dressing “shabbily”.
In a now-viral sermon, Kumuyi said such a directive has discouraged several people from serving God and becoming part of the ministry.
“Somebody is coming to our church for the first time. And she happens to be a lady not covering her head. We ask the person to cover her head before coming in,” the cleric said.
“We don’t know whether the person does not even know God. We confront her out there before she even enters the church. We don’t know if she does not know how to pray or prophesy. But we impose rules on her.
“If I were the person, I would wonder what kind of church is this? If they treat me like a primary school girl, that will be my last time coming to the church.”
Speaking further, the 81-year-old said the Bible only instructed women to cover their heads when they are praying or prophesying.
Kumuyi, however, wondered why some female members of his church will cover their heads for nearly 20 hours a day while paying less attention to their outfits.
This, he said, has made several married women appear unattractive to their husbands.
According to him, such women have continued to keep themselves in “bondage” due to ignorance of the word of God.
“The purpose of covering the hair for the woman is when you pray or prophesy, and let me open everything to you, there are sisters that cover their hair for at least 20 hours in a day,” he said.
“In church, they cover, on the street they cover, anything that they are doing or anywhere they are going, even inside their own room, they cover. They are not praying, they are not prophesying, but they cover, cover and cover.
“Eventually, the hair, because of the heat, will be emitting odour. Some will say, what kind of pastor is this? This is the kind of pastor that will tell you everything you need to know. There are some people, even when they are taking their bath because they are not going to wash their hair then, the covering is still there.
“Now, you put yourself in such bondage because you never read the word that every woman that prays or prophesy with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head.
“If I don’t tell you, nobody else will tell you, there are some wives, they don’t make themselves clean, beautiful and attractive to their husbands. Some of them will say, he has married me, he cannot divorce me, and so there’s nothing he can do.
“(Therefore) they dress shabbily and they will not present themselves attractive… there are some single sisters, they are not presentable, you can see their problems on their faces and the way they carry themselves, anyone who even knows the will of God will say if I bring this one in, I’m bringing another load, I have enough load for myself…cheer up, you’re a child of a king.”