About Us

About Us

Why BeADisciple?

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  • Small group classes
  • High-quality content
  • Accessible from anywhere
  • Coursework that suits your schedule
  • Get to know Christians from around the world

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What People Are Saying

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Since 2006...

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What We Offer

BeADisciple.com has provided quality online educational experiences with roots in Wesleyan theology since 2006. We offer online studies, workshops and courses on a variety of ministry, formation and leadership topics. All of our courses offer CEU credits. Our goal is to make rich learning experiences accessible to church leaders and laity, no matter their location or life situation.

Our Community

BeADisciple is a community of people who are invested in becoming better Christian disciples. Our courses are open to anyone, and there’s no membership fee to be a part of our community — simply enroll in a course that interests you!

Our Learning Environment

Courses are conducted in small groups with a trained facilitator or a certified instructor, so learners and instructors have an opportunity to get to know one another. Groups begin together, progress through materials, and end together. Individual learners participate at the time of day that works best for their schedule and are not required to be online at the same time as other learners. BeADisciple maintains a faith-centered learning environment grounded in the values of trust, fairness, respect, honesty, and responsibility.  Read more about our plagiarism and AI use policy here.

The Institute for Discipleship

BeADisciple.com is one of several programs of the Richard and Julia Wilke Institute for Discipleship at Southwestern College, a United Methodist institution in Winfield, Kansas.

To learn about all of the Institute’s ministries, including the BeADisciple Study App, visit www.institutefordiscipleship.org

Religious Perspective

Our background and primary perspective is United Methodist, but we believe in an ecumenical mission and have instructors from a variety of denominations.  Learners from any Mainline Protestant (Lutheran (ELCA), Presbyterian (PCUSA), Episcopal, United Church of Christ (UCC), American Baptist, Friends/Quakers, Disciples of Christ, Reformed Church in America, Metropolitan Community Churches, etc.) or Wesleyan (Nazarene, Free Methodist, African Methodist Episcopal (AME), Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME), African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AME Zion), Global Methodist Church (GMC)) denomination ought to feel at home in most of our courses, and learners from any Christian tradition will be able to learn and grow in their faith.

About Our Founders

BeADisciple.com is a ministry of the Richard and Julia Wilke Institute for Discipleship. The Institute was chartered by Southwestern College on April 20, 2001.

Named for Bishop Richard (Dick) Wilke and his wife, Julia, the Institute is dedicated to carrying on the Wilkes’ legacy by providing educational opportunities that build Christian communities, encouraging small groups that sustain and uplift their members, engaging in high quality theological content, and resourcing a global church.

Elected to the episcopacy of the United Methodist Church in 1984, Bishop Wilke served for 12 years in the Arkansas area. While serving as bishop, he worked to emphasize church growth and evangelism, at all times maintaining his love for the local church. He served on boards of colleges, hospitals, and on general boards of the United Methodist Church. Following his time in Arkansas, he served as Bishop-in-Residence at Southwestern College.

Together, Dick and Julia coordinated, designed, and wrote the DISCIPLE Bible study, a training for Christian leaders, with nearly three million graduates in more than 10,000 congregations in 30 denominations. The DISCIPLE series is now available in a wide variety of languages, including Korean, Spanish, French, German, two dialects of Chinese, and several Southeast Asian languages. It is also available on the BeADisciple Study App.

Are you interested in joining our community as an instructor? Sign up for our newsletter and/or send us an email.

BeADisciple celebrates 20 years

2026 marks the 25th anniversary of the Institute for Discipleship and the 20th year of online courses for BeADisciple.com. Long-time instructor and BeADisciple registrar Beth Galbreath shares how the work of the Institute and its programs have impacted many through the years.

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