Online Courses

Disciple Bible Study

The Richard and Julia Wilke Institute for Discipleship is excited to offer Disciple Bible Study — now online at BeADisciple.com.

Since January, over 30 DISCIPLE facilitators have been trained to lead Disciple Online. The first Disciple Online courses are beginning to form now and can be viewed at www.BeADisciple.com/discipleonlinecourses. Some of the groups are for members of a specific church or a specific UM Conference. Others are open to anyone from anywhere. One group is for young adults from anywhere, and one is for women from anywhere.

Here is how it works. Persons simply go to www.BeADisciple.com and enroll in the Disciple Online class they wish to join. A $30 fee is required to underwrite the costs of nine months of technical support. Next, participants will need a manual which they can purchase online from the Cokesbury site or through their local church. High speed internet connection is recommended.

Participants will do their daily reading and reflection with their manual on their own. Assignments will be available with instructions for weekly group work. This will include discussion questions to be completed in a group-interactive discussion board by the participant at his/her own convenience. Prayer requests and written prayer petitions will be included. This online work covers what is normally accomplished in the first half of a normal face-to-face DISCIPLE class.

Each week, a short review of the week's scriptures by Bishop Wilke, the author of DISCIPLE, will be presented online for participants to watch. These will lead into key questions for weekly discussion.

Every seven days a live session online (approximately one hour) will walk the group through more discussion, exercises, and time for prayer together. This section will be conducted similarly to the second half of a face-to-face class and will transition the group into the next week. Each session will be recorded so that participants who have to miss a live session may view the live session later.

For some, the benefit of Disciple Online will be its flexibility. Besides the one-hour weekly meeting, all work may be done at the participant’s convenience. All work, including the weekly session, may be accomplished from anywhere there is online access.

For more information or to enroll, visit www.BeADisciple.com