Changes

On her way to her first term in what was then the Congo Free State, she took six months of Red Cross nurse’s training, especially in tropical diseases, in Europe.<ref>Alma Doering |Unevangelized Tribes Mission, http://www.zoominfo.com/p/Alma-Doering/1519452550 Accessed October 1, 2015</ref>

On her way to her first term in what was then the Congo Free State, she took six months of Red Cross nurse’s training, especially in tropical diseases, in Europe.<ref>Alma Doering |Unevangelized Tribes Mission, http://www.zoominfo.com/p/Alma-Doering/1519452550 Accessed October 1, 2015</ref>

==Missionary Career==

==Missionary career==

===Early Ministry Before Congo===

===Early Ministry Before Congo===

===Pioneer work in the Congo Free State===

===Pioneer work in the Congo Free State===

Although she also worked briefly in Kenya, most of Doering’s missionary work was done in what was then the Congo Free State (now Democratic Republic of Congo), from 1901 to 1938.  Working first under the Swedish Mission Society,<ref>Cornelius H Wedel, Late Professor at Bethel College, Sketches from Church History for Mennonite Schools, (Newton,KS:Western District Conference of Mennonites of North America, 1920).</ref> then under Congo Inland Mission<ref>"Stepping Stones--The Journey of the Mennonite Church in Congo.  http://www.mennonitemission.het/SiteCollectionDocuments/Stories/BeyondOurselves/Cono/DL.BYO.Congo.SteppingStones.pdf</ref> and finally under Unevangelized Tribes Mission which she helped to found, Doering walked into interior areas where no roads yet existed and served many tribes, surveying areas unexplored by westerners, opened new mission stations, and endured countless hardships such as malaria, blackwater fever, and three times loss of all her goods due to fire.  Early in Doering’s missionary career, she received the bantu name “Malembe,” meaning “peace.”<ref>Doering, Alma, His Way Out (Germantown,Pa:Office of the Unevangelized, 1940), p. 57.</ref> Missionaries to the Democratic Republic of Congo recall that she is still remembered there as somewhat of a legend.<ref>Interview with Lorella Rouster, former missionary to Congo, Every Child Ministries, Sept. 5, 2015</ref>  She also had a profound influence on other missionaries, such as William Sheppard, an African-American missionary doctor.<ref>"Historical Riddle", Beyond Ourselves, Nov. 2012, "Congo--100 Years" http://www.mennonitemission.net/Stories/BeyondOurselves/Congo/Pages/HistoricalRiddle  Accessed October 8, 2015</ref>Missionary Joanne Kroeker traveled with Doering on her last missionary voyage.  She wrote that on "Novemver 4, 1938, I boarded the S.S. Elizabethville with Miss Doering, Miss Runkelberger, Dr. and Mrs. Laban Smith with their children Junior and Phyllis..."<ref>Joanne Kroeker, Shiny Shoes on Dusty Paths Vol 1, Destiny Image Publishers, October 1, 1995)</ref>  Dunkelberger had previously traveled with Doering and written about their experiences.<ref>Stella C. Dunkelberger, Crossing Africa in a Missionary Way, The Mission Offices, 1935).</ref>

Although she also worked briefly in Kenya, most of Doering’s missionary work was done in what was then the Congo Free State (now Democratic Republic of Congo), from 1901 to 1938.  Working first under the Swedish Mission Society,<ref>Cornelius H Wedel, Late Professor at Bethel College, Sketches from Church History for Mennonite Schools, (Newton,KS:Western District Conference of Mennonites of North America, 1920).</ref> then under Congo Inland Mission<ref>"Stepping Stones--The Journey of the Mennonite Church in Congo.  http://www.mennonitemission.het/SiteCollectionDocuments/Stories/BeyondOurselves/Cono/DL.BYO.Congo.SteppingStones.pdf</ref> and finally under Unevangelized Tribes Mission which she helped to found, Doering walked into interior areas where no roads yet existed and served many tribes, surveying areas unexplored by westerners, opened new mission stations, and endured countless hardships such as malaria, blackwater fever, and three times loss of all her goods due to fire.  Early in Doering’s missionary career, she received the bantu name “Malembe,” meaning “peace.”<ref>Doering, Alma, His Way Out (Germantown,Pa:Office of the Unevangelized, 1940), p. 57.</ref> Missionaries to the Democratic Republic of Congo recall that she is still remembered there as somewhat of a legend.<ref>Interview with Lorella Rouster, former missionary to Congo, Every Child Ministries, Sept. 5, 2015</ref>  She also had a profound influence on other missionaries, such as William Sheppard, an African-American missionary doctor.<ref>"Historical Riddle", Beyond Ourselves, Nov. 2012, "Congo--100 Years" http://www.mennonitemission.net/Stories/BeyondOurselves/Congo/Pages/HistoricalRiddle  Accessed October 8, 2015</ref> Missionary Joanne Kroeker traveled with Doering on her last missionary voyage.  She wrote that on "Novemver 4, 1938, I boarded the S.S. Elizabethville with Miss Doering, Miss Runkelberger, Dr. and Mrs. Laban Smith with their children Junior and Phyllis..."<ref>Joanne Kroeker, Shiny Shoes on Dusty Paths Vol 1, Destiny Image Publishers, October 1, 1995)</ref>  Dunkelberger had previously traveled with Doering and written about their experiences.<ref>Stella C. Dunkelberger, Crossing Africa in a Missionary Way, The Mission Offices, 1935).</ref>

===Founding of Unevangelized Tribes Mission===

===Founding of Unevangelized Tribes Mission===

Doering is best remembered as founder of the Unevangelized Tribes Mission (UTM) and its field secretary for many years.  Doering was international and interdenominational in her views.  She spent time speaking in several countries of Europe as well as the United States, so much so that she was (mistakenly) called by one writer a “Swiss Pentecostal.”<ref>Eric Nelson, Newburg, The Pentecostal Mission in Palestine 1906-1948, Dissertation for Regent University, February 2008</ref>  He quotes an article she wrote while living in St. Croix, Switzerland<ref>Anderson, Allan Heaton, To The Ends of the Earth: Pentecostalism and the Transformation of World Christianity, Oxford University Press, 2013</ref>for a Pentecostal magazine.<ref>Doering, Alma, “Those Frustrated Calls to Ministry—Are They Divine?”, Confidence, February 1914, p. 32</ref>   

Doering is best remembered as founder of the Unevangelized Tribes Mission (UTM) and its field secretary for many years.  Doering was international and interdenominational in her views.  She spent time speaking in several countries of Europe as well as the United States, so much so that she was (mistakenly) called by one writer a “Swiss Pentecostal.”<ref>Eric Nelson, Newburg, The Pentecostal Mission in Palestine 1906-1948, Dissertation for Regent University, February 2008</ref>  He quotes an article she wrote while living in St. Croix, Switzerland<ref>Anderson, Allan Heaton, To The Ends of the Earth: Pentecostalism and the Transformation of World Christianity, Oxford University Press, 2013</ref> for a Pentecostal magazine.<ref>Doering, Alma, “Those Frustrated Calls to Ministry—Are They Divine?”, Confidence, February 1914, p. 32</ref>   

Technically and officially she was a Lutheran<ref>Klaus Fiedler, History of Faith Missions,PUBLISHER, 1994, p. 52</ref>, but she was sent to Congo first by a Swedish missionary society and then by the Defenseless Mennonites.<ref>”Stepping Stones—The Journey of the Mennonite Church in Congo, Congo—100 Years http://www.mennonitemission.net/SiteCollectionDocuments/Stories/BeyondOurselves/Congo/BL.BYO.Congo.SteppingStones.pdf </ref>She was described by another author as “A Mennonite missionary with holiness sympathies.”<ref>Robison, James, Divine Healing:The Years of Expansion, 1906-1930 (Eugene,OR:Pickwick Publishers, 2014). P.49</ref>  She was also influenced by the Pentecostal movement, apparently following an experience she had while attending the Sunderland Convention in the UK in 1908.  Donald McGee relates that she testified in that meeting to recognizing a “unknown tongue” spoken there as a warning in the Kifioti tribal language with which she was familiar, and she said that the “interpretation” was given correctly.<ref>Revival Library Online “Wind and Fire”, http://www.revival-library.org/index.php/catalogues-menu/pentecostal/wind-and-fire  The same event is related in McGee’s book The Pentecostal Movement—A Short History, n.p., n.d</ref>  Following this experience, Doering wrote frequently for Pentecostal publications, but also spoke at major Mennonite Conferences.<Ref>Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online  http://www.gameo.org/index.php?title=Doering, _Alma_(1878-1959) Accessed October 23, 2015.</ref>  Never one to be tied down by any one single Christian group, Doering tried to steer the Congo Inland Mission in the same interdenominational direction.  Conflicts with the mission board over this issue eventually led Doering to resign in 1925<ref>Snyder, C. Arnold, and Lapp, John Allen, A Global Mennonite History: Africa (Pandora Press, 2003), p. 84.</ref> and found the Unevangelized Tribes Mission the following year, 1926.

Technically and officially she was a Lutheran,<ref>Klaus Fiedler, History of Faith Missions,PUBLISHER, 1994, p. 52</ref> but she was sent to Congo first by a Swedish missionary society and then by the Defenseless Mennonites.<ref>”Stepping Stones—The Journey of the Mennonite Church in Congo, Congo—100 Years http://www.mennonitemission.net/SiteCollectionDocuments/Stories/BeyondOurselves/Congo/BL.BYO.Congo.SteppingStones.pdf</ref> She was described by another author as “A Mennonite missionary with holiness sympathies.”<ref>Robison, James, Divine Healing:The Years of Expansion, 1906-1930 (Eugene,OR:Pickwick Publishers, 2014). P.49</ref>  She was also influenced by the Pentecostal movement, apparently following an experience she had while attending the Sunderland Convention in the UK in 1908.  Donald McGee relates that she testified in that meeting to recognizing a “unknown tongue” spoken there as a warning in the Kifioti tribal language with which she was familiar, and she said that the “interpretation” was given correctly.<ref>Revival Library Online “Wind and Fire”, http://www.revival-library.org/index.php/catalogues-menu/pentecostal/wind-and-fire  The same event is related in McGee’s book The Pentecostal Movement—A Short History, n.p., n.d</ref>  Following this experience, Doering wrote frequently for Pentecostal publications, but also spoke at major Mennonite Conferences.<ref>Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online  http://www.gameo.org/index.php?title=Doering, _Alma_(1878-1959) Accessed October 23, 2015.</ref>  Never one to be tied down by any one single Christian group, Doering tried to steer the Congo Inland Mission in the same interdenominational direction.  Conflicts with the mission board over this issue eventually led Doering to resign in 1925<ref>Snyder, C. Arnold, and Lapp, John Allen, A Global Mennonite History: Africa (Pandora Press, 2003), p. 84.</ref> and found the Unevangelized Tribes Mission the following year, 1926.

A map published in 1939 by the mission shows nine mission stations the full length of the southeastern part of the Bandundu Region (now Bandundu Province).  It stated that the aim of the UTM is to “occupy fields not touched by other missions,” and claimed work in eleven tribes, with beginnings in three others.<ref>Doering, Alma, Vision Victorious, (Germantown, PA:Unevangelized Tribes Mission), p. 16.</ref>  The official organ of the mission was “The Unevangelized”.<ref>Doering, Alma, His Way Out, (Germantown, PA:Office of the Unevangelized, 1940) p. 57</ref>  The UTM was eventually absorbed by the Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission and other missions.<ref>"Congo Mission News, 1959, Zaire Church News, Vol. 185-206, p. 21.</ref><ref>Cornelius Dyck & Dennis D. Martin, The Mennonite Encyclopedia, (Mennonite Brethren Publishing House, 1990).</ref>   

A map published in 1939 by the mission shows nine mission stations the full length of the southeastern part of the Bandundu Region (now Bandundu Province).  It stated that the aim of the UTM is to “occupy fields not touched by other missions,” and claimed work in eleven tribes, with beginnings in three others.<ref>Doering, Alma, Vision Victorious, (Germantown, PA:Unevangelized Tribes Mission), p. 16.</ref>  The official organ of the mission was “The Unevangelized”.<ref>Doering, Alma, His Way Out, (Germantown, PA:Office of the Unevangelized, 1940) p. 57</ref>  The UTM was eventually absorbed by the Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission and other missions.<ref>"Congo Mission News, 1959, Zaire Church News, Vol. 185-206, p. 21.</ref><ref>Cornelius Dyck & Dennis D. Martin, The Mennonite Encyclopedia, (Mennonite Brethren Publishing House, 1990).</ref>   

===Missions promoter and recruiter===

===Missions promoter and recruiter===

In both her writings and in her multitude of speaking opportunities<ref>"Mission Worker Speaks Sunday" The Evening Independent, April 24, 1937.  Picture of news clip accessible at http://www.auspostalhistory.com/articles/1923.php.</ref><ref>Willard E Cassel & Richard E Taylor,"Edgewood Camp Meeting:Research & Remembrances.  Mentions addresses by Doering.  Accessible at http://www.bfhistory.org/edgewood.htm</ref><ref>"Recent Special Speakers," Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, MBI Monthly, Vol. 22, No. 1, Sept, 1921</ref>Doering constantly pleaded for more missionaries to join the work.  She figured that she was responsible for recruiting over 100 missionaries.<ref>Doering, Alma, Vision Victorious, (Germantown, PA:Office of the Unevangelized, 1940), p.13.</ref>One Mennonite church in Steinbech, OH credits their missionary vision to Doering, then working with Africa Inland Mission, speaking at that church in 1910.<ref>Gospel Tidings, 1987-1990, Vols 27-30, Evangelical Mennonite Brethren Conference, 1987</ref>The Mennonite Central Committee, too, has credited the strong missionary addresses given by her and by Charles E. Hurlburt with their decision to start mission work in Africa.<ref>Cornelius H Wedel, Sketches from Church History for Mennonite Schools, (Newton,KS:Western District Conference of Mennonites of North America, 1920).</ref>Even the time she was forced to spend in Europe bore fruit and yielded new missionary candidates.<ref>William B. Weaver, Thirty-Five Years in Congo (Congo Inland Mission, 1945)</ref>  Unevangelized Tribes Mission, which she helped to found and under which she served many of her years in Congo, had a policy of never taking an offering or directly asking for funds, but Doering certainly did everything under her power to promote the work.  One of her pamphlets lists “what could be done” for certain amounts, and the pamphlets were sold to help support the work.<ref>Doering, Alma, His Way Out, p. 57-58 as one example.</ref>  In one of her books, she wrote accounts of the work geared to whetting interest in missions, appealed for more missionaries, told of creative ways Christians in several countries were supporting missions, and even gave lists of items mission stations could use in their ministries along with directions for packing them.<ref>Doering, Alma, Leopard Spots or God's Masterpiece--Which?, (Cleveland,OH:"Malembe" Publisher, 1916.</ref>She raised over 1.5 million dollars for missions during her lifetime.<ref>Marjorie Creamer, Times Religion Writer, "Mission Provides a Restful Haven," St. Petersburg Times, July 1, 1967, p.45</ref>  She was a frequent missionary speaker.  The newspaper of Hope College in 1922 described her as “full of the message.”<ref>The Anchor, February 15, 1922</ref>

In both her writings and in her multitude of speaking opportunities<ref>"Mission Worker Speaks Sunday" The Evening Independent, April 24, 1937.  Picture of news clip accessible at http://www.auspostalhistory.com/articles/1923.php.</ref><ref>Willard E Cassel & Richard E Taylor,"Edgewood Camp Meeting:Research & Remembrances.  Mentions addresses by Doering.  Accessible at http://www.bfhistory.org/edgewood.htm</ref><ref>"Recent Special Speakers," Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, MBI Monthly, Vol. 22, No. 1, Sept, 1921</ref> Doering constantly pleaded for more missionaries to join the work.  She figured that she was responsible for recruiting over 100 missionaries.<ref>Doering, Alma, Vision Victorious, (Germantown, PA:Office of the Unevangelized, 1940), p.13.</ref> One Mennonite church in Steinbech, OH credits their missionary vision to Doering, then working with Africa Inland Mission, speaking at that church in 1910.<ref>Gospel Tidings, 1987-1990, Vols 27-30, Evangelical Mennonite Brethren Conference, 1987</ref> The Mennonite Central Committee, too, has credited the strong missionary addresses given by her and by Charles E. Hurlburt with their decision to start mission work in Africa.<ref>Cornelius H Wedel, Sketches from Church History for Mennonite Schools, (Newton,KS:Western District Conference of Mennonites of North America, 1920).</ref> Even the time she was forced to spend in Europe bore fruit and yielded new missionary candidates.<ref>William B. Weaver, Thirty-Five Years in Congo (Congo Inland Mission, 1945)</ref>  Unevangelized Tribes Mission, which she helped to found and under which she served many of her years in Congo, had a policy of never taking an offering or directly asking for funds, but Doering certainly did everything under her power to promote the work.  One of her pamphlets lists “what could be done” for certain amounts, and the pamphlets were sold to help support the work.<ref>Doering, Alma, His Way Out, p. 57-58 as one example.</ref>  In one of her books, she wrote accounts of the work geared to whetting interest in missions, appealed for more missionaries, told of creative ways Christians in several countries were supporting missions, and even gave lists of items mission stations could use in their ministries along with directions for packing them.<ref>Doering, Alma, Leopard Spots or God's Masterpiece--Which?, (Cleveland,OH:"Malembe" Publisher, 1916.</ref> She raised over 1.5 million dollars for missions during her lifetime.<ref>Marjorie Creamer, Times Religion Writer, "Mission Provides a Restful Haven," St. Petersburg Times, July 1, 1967, p.45</ref>  She was a frequent missionary speaker.  The newspaper of Hope College in 1922 described her as “full of the message.”<ref>The Anchor, February 15, 1922</ref>

===Missions strategist===

===Missions strategist===