Richard Wilke, a bishop of The United Methodist Church who, along with his wife, helped develop the popular Disciple Bible Study series, has died at the age of 94.
The Richard and Julia Wilke Institute for Discipleship at Southwestern College announced Wilke’s death on Sunday. The bishop had died on Easter in Winfield, Kansas, surrounded by family.
Retired Bishop Janice Riggle Huie, who succeeded Wilke as bishop in Arkansas, gave her condolences in comments provided to UM News.
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“He understood how important it was to teach the Scriptures to people in little bitty churches stuck way back in the hills and hollers,” she said.
A native of El Dorado, Kansas, Wilke was born in 1930 and attended Southern Methodist University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in history in 1952. While there, he met his future wife, Julia Kitchens, and they were married in 1953.
In 1955, Wilke received a master of divinity degree from Yale University, earning the senior preaching award, and in 1972, he earned a second master of divinity from Dubuque Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa.
Wilke was elected a bishop in 1984 and was appointed to serve Arkansas. Two years later, he published And Are We Yet Alive?: The Future of the United Methodist Church. The bestselling book centered on why the church was in decline and recommended greater study of the Bible.
During the 1980s, in keeping with this recommendation, Wilke and his wife developed the Disciple Bible Study series, a 34-week Bible study in which participants read through most of the sacred text and learned about historical and cultural contexts.
In addition to assigned readings and discussion questions, the series featured video lectures from various clergy and scholars, both from within and outside the UMC.
“As a pastor in the early 1980s, I became aware how isolated and lonely people were becoming and how ignorant they were of the Bible,” recounted Wilke in an interview years ago.
“Then one day, after I became a Bishop, I received a phone call from Nellie Moser, a new biblical educator for the UMC Publishing House. She said she had been talking to Jim Beal, one of my key district superintendents and he said he was interested in developing a small group Bible study plan.”
Soon after the Wilkes presented their ideas, “we were attending a gathering of scholars at a retreat center in Flower Mound, Texas” to help compile scholarly input.
Since it was first developed in the 1980s, it is estimated that around 3 million people have taken classes centered on the Disciple Bible Study series or related curricula.
In 2019, Wilke penned a column weighing in on the UMC’s decades-long debate over whether to prohibit same-sex marriage and the ordination of noncelibate homosexuals.
Wilke expressed sympathy for the theologically progressive side of the debate, noting that he had a lesbian daughter. He claimed that opposition to homosexuality was based on a “few misunderstood passages of Scripture.”
Wilke was preceded in death by his wife, Julia, in 2016. He is survived by four children, nine grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren. Funeral services are scheduled for May 6 at First United Methodist Church of Winfield.
