John Paul Burke

John Paul Burke, age 93, was welcomed home into the arms of his loving Heavenly Father early Sunday morning on December 21st, 2025. We grieve his loss, as he touched so many lives with his love for the Scriptures and his heart for pastoring, shepherding and counseling. But we rejoice in his homegoing, being confident that the Lord greeted him with “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” It was his desire to finish well.

John was born on September 7, 1932 during the days of the Great Depression in the small Swiss farming community of Berne, Indiana. His parents, Frank and Lydia Burke, were a hardworking, God-fearing couple. He was the eldest of five children, with two brothers and two sisters. John’s parents taught him the values of honest hard work, thrift and dependability, as well as what it meant to fear the Lord and walk in His ways. Because John’s grandparents came to the United States from Switzerland, he grew up speaking a low German dialect at home.

His home church was the First Mennonite Church in Berne. It was there that he received solid Bible training in Sunday School, Christian Endeavor, Wednesday Night Boy’s Class, Summer Bible School, and Youth Fellowship Club. He made the decision to follow Christ when he was eight years old, and it was during those formative years that God gave him the desire to become a Bible teacher.

John graduated from Berne-French High School in 1950. He initially enrolled in the International Business College in Fort Wayne, IN with a mission to pursue a career in accounting. While at the Business college, the Lord led several men into his life who greatly encouraged him to seriously consider Christian ministry. As a result, he committed his life to full-time ministry and entered Fort Wayne Bible College in the fall of 1953, and graduated cum laude in 1956. He then earned his Master of Divinity from Grace Theological Seminary in Winona Lake, Indiana in 1959, again graduating cum laude. In the years to come, John served as a faithful member of the Board of Trustees at Grace Theological Seminary, Chairman of the National Ministerium in the 1990’s, and on the Board of Trustees at Friendship Village in Waterloo, IA.

It was during his college years that God began preparing John for the young woman who would become his wife and lifelong ministry partner. As Providence would have it, He raised up Shirley Ann Steury, a local gal who was simultaneously being called to be a pastor’s wife. John and Shirley were friends in high school; she was the little girl who charmed her audiences with her amazing talent for playing the piano in school, recitals and in local competitions. Their first date was in 1953 following a Sunday evening church service at the First Missionary Church in Berne where she played the piano. Sunday nights became their date nights, and she and John were eventually married in July 1955.

During his ministerial career, John pastored four Grace Brethren Churches (now known as Charis Bible Fellowship of Churches). They were:

• Leesburg, IN (3 years) where he received his first taste of leadership and ministry and where his first daughter, Jill Diane, was born;

• In his college town of Wheaton, IL (2 years) where he learned perseverance while leading a struggling church, and where his younger daughter, Bonnie Lynn, was born;

• The “Rubber Capital of the World” - Akron, OH (9 years) where he and Shirley honed themselves in teaching and ministry skills; and

• Waterloo, IA (28 years), where John accomplished his personal goal to dignify one church with a long pastorate. This was motivated by a desire to shepherd the 2nd generation children of the couples he had married. His life was rich and full in that role there, counseling couples, conducting weddings and funerals, and making hundreds of hospital calls. During his pastorate in Waterloo, over 25 young people entered vocational Christian service or prepared for ministry. Sunday morning worship services were aired over the local Christian radio station KNWS. During these years, both daughters met and married their husbands while students at Grace College in Winona Lake, IN.

John and Shirley’s final years of ministry together were at Covenant Living of Colorado in Westminster, where they have lived for the last 25 years. John served as part-time Chaplain at Covenant Living for 15 years (a second career), taught Bible classes, spoke at Sunday Night vespers, sang in the “Men of Note” quartet and the Village choir, led worship, made room visits at the Health Care Center on campus, and was a vital part of “Befrienders,” a calling/caring ministry serving needy residents on campus. For two years, he and Shirley also did ministry service at Aspen Siesta, a skilled nursing facility in southeast Denver, and together they were honorary members of Arvada Covenant Church.

For over 50 years, they shared an equal partnership in ministry, with John’s expository approach to Bible teaching with practical Scriptural applications, and Shirley’s musical talent in Sunday services, prayer meetings, and choir. Their lives were truly a partnership. They were married 69 precious years before Shirley’s passing in July 2024. It was John’s expressed desire that she too be honored along with him at his own memorial service, as their ministries beautifully complimented each other.

John had a heart for people and prayer, and was lovingly referred to as “Pastor B.” He was best-known for writing out his sermons long-hand or typing them word-for-word, subsequently filing them alongside his library of biblical resources. Every morning, John read from the Scriptures and the daily devotional guide “Our Daily Bread.” He faithfully prayed for his family members by name every day. He also authored several books during his lifetime, including Studies in Genesis in 1978. His favorite teaching pastors were John MacArthur and David Jeremiah.

As an avid gardener, John had an amazing green thumb, growing a thriving vegetable garden every year to his neighbor’s envy. He was also a devoted walker on campus, and a talented woodworker, photographer, and commercial painter. One of his prized possessions was his paternal grandfather’s German Bible (also John Burke), one of two grandfathers he was named after.

John and Shirley were parents of two girls - Jill Diane (Don) McCluskey and Bonnie Lynn (Steve) Garcia. John was preceded in death by his parents, Frank and Lydia (Nussbaum) Burke, his wife Shirley Ann (Steury) Burke of Westminster, CO, and a brother-in-law Robert Ransbottom of Rockford, OH.

He is survived by his four siblings Tom (Rita) Burke of Fishers, IN; Jerry (Betty) Burke of Berne, IN; Judy (Dr. Richard) Yoder and Mary Kay Ransbottom of Berne, as well as his two daughters, Jill (Don) McCluskey of Fort Worth, TX and Bonnie (Steve) Garcia of Denver, CO.

As a grandpa, John is survived by five grandsons - Jesse (Hazel) McCluskey, Jared McCluskey, Nathan (Meredith) Garcia, Daniel (Lindsay) Garcia, and Jonathan Garcia, a great-grandson Elliot McCluskey, and a host of cousins, nieces, and nephews.

A memorial service will be held on a date to be determined in February at Covenant Living of Colorado (Westminster). Officiating will be Chaplains Kay Sorvik and James Choi, who partnered with John for many years.

Memorials and contributions in John’s honor may be gifted to the Covenant Living of Colorado Benevolent Care Fund: https://www.covliving.org/contact-us/donation/.