January 9, 2008

TO ALL BODIES OF ELDERS IN NIGERIA

Dear Brothers:

WEDDING PROCEDURE IN KINGDOM HALLS LICENSED FOR

PERFORMANCE OF STATUTORY MARRIAGES

We are writing in connection with the procedure to be followed when performing

statutory marriages in any of the Kingdom Halls licensed for that purpose. This
procedure should be followed in the licensed Kingdom Hall even if a talk is to be given
in another Kingdom Hall after the performance of the marriage.

The talk outline (S-41) titled “Honorable Marriage in God’s Sight,” should
continue to be used in connection with the performance of marriages in licensed
Kingdom Halls. The first part of this outline is a 25-minute Scriptural talk. This is
followed by the section on “Wedding Procedure Before Vows.” The final part of the
outline deals with the procedure for administering the Marriage Vows. It is this last part
of the outline that we are concerned with in this letter. (If the talk is to be given in an
unlicensed Kingdom Hall then the procedure in the licensed Kingdom Hall will only
involve this latter part of the outline.) We would like to bring to your attention the
following points:

1. After the vows have been repeated as set out in the outline, the couple should go up to
the platform with their legal witnesses. The officiating minister will complete the
information in all the copies of the marriage certificate. The couple and then their
witnesses will each sign all the copies of the certificate and write their names beside
their signatures.

2. The officiating minister should then sign and write his name on each copy of the
certificate. Thereafter, the legal witnesses will return to their seats. After detaching
one of the copies of the marriage certificate, the officiating minister will hand it to the
groom.

3. The exchange of rings, if any, should take place after this.

4. In pronouncing the couple “husband and wife together,” the officiating minister does
so “as an ordained minister and by the authority conferred on me by the Holy
Scriptures and the Federal Government of Nigeria.”
To All Bodies of Elders in Nigeria
January 9, 2008
Page 2

There are now about 70 Kingdom Halls in Nigeria licensed for the performance of
statutory marriages. We encourage that the brothers use the Kingdom Halls in
performing their marriages. Doing this will help to protect them from involvement in
interfaith that often accompanies wedding ceremonies in the marriage registries.

For instance, in a number of registries, rather than follow the procedure and
administer the vows provided by the Marriage Act, the officials administer the vows used
by the Anglican Church. Sections 27 and 28 of the Marriage Act provide as follows:

“After the issue of a certificate under section 11, or of a licence under section 13 of this
Act, the parties may, if they think fit, contract a marriage before a registrar, in the
presence of two witnesses in his office, with open doors, between the hours of ten o’clock
in the forenoon and four o’clock in the afternoon, and in the following mannerʊ”

“The registrar, after production to him of the certificate or licence, shall, either
directly or through an interpreter, address the parties thusʊ”

“‘Do I understand that you, A.B., and you, C.D., come here for the purpose of becoming
man and wife?’ If the parties answer in the affirmative, he shall proceed thusʊ”

“‘Know ye that, by the public taking of each other as man and wife in my presence and in
the presence of the persons now here, and by the subsequent attestation thereof by
signing your names to that effect, you become legally married to each other, although no
other rite of a civil or religious nature shall take place, and that this marriage cannot be
dissolved during your lifetime, except by a valid judgment of divorce; and if either of you
before the death of the other shall contract another marriage while this remain
undissolved you will be thereby guilty of bigamy, and liable to punishment for that
offence.’”

“Each of the parties shall then say to the other ‘I call upon all persons here present to
witness that I, A.B., do take thee, C.D., to be my lawful wife (or husband).’”

“The registrar shall then fill up, and he and the parties and witnesses shall sign, the
certificate of the marriage in duplicate, and the registrar shall then fill up and sign the
counterfoil as hereinbefore prescribed in the case of a marriage by a minister, and shall
deliver one certificate to the parties and shall file the other in his office.”

It would therefore be wrong for the officials at the marriage registry to insist that
the singing of a Kingdom song or other religious acts must be included in the ceremony
at the registry. (Psalm 137:3, 4; John 17:14, 16) Accordingly, if a marriage registrar
seeks to turn the registration of a marriage into a religious ceremony at which he or she is
presiding, the couple have a right to refuse and the registrar has a duty to respect their
wishes and perform their marriage in accordance with the provisions of the law.
To All Bodies of Elders in Nigeria
January 9, 2008
Page 3

In due course, we will provide the addresses of all the licensed Kingdom Halls in
Nigeria. In the meantime, any intending couple may check with the circuit overseer to
confirm the address of the licensed Kingdom Hall most conveniently located for them, so
as to request approval to use the hall from the body of elders of the congregation using
the hall.

Anyone that has the privilege of officiating at a wedding in a Kingdom Hall

should carefully follow the instructions that we have provided. Each body of elders of
congregations using Kingdom Halls licensed for celebration of marriages has been
directed to make these instructions available to the officiating minister before the
wedding.

We trust that this information will assist you, and we are asking you to follow this
procedure closely, in conducting marriages in licensed Kingdom Halls in a dignified
manner. No doubt, it will also assist couples wishing to perform their marriages in such
licensed Kingdom Halls.

Please be assured of our warm Christian love and best wishes.

Your brothers,

(P.S.: If any brother or sister in your congregation intending to perform a statutory

marriage, chooses to go to the Marriage Registry rather than to a licensed Kingdom Hall,
please bring to their attention what we have said in this letter about marriages in the
Marriage Registry.)

c: All Traveling Overseers