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Alma came to personal [[salvation]] at age nine.  She began teaching [[Sunday school]] at age thirteen, and by sixteen was teaching several classes in two Sunday schools.<ref>Alma Doering | Unevangelized Tribes Mission, http://www.zoominfo.com/p/Alma-Doering/1519452550  Accessed October 8, 2015</ref>

Alma came to personal [[salvation]] at age nine.  She began teaching [[Sunday school]] at age thirteen, and by sixteen was teaching several classes in two Sunday schools.<ref>Alma Doering | Unevangelized Tribes Mission, http://www.zoominfo.com/p/Alma-Doering/1519452550  Accessed October 8, 2015</ref>

Alma attended and graduated from the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago.  While she was there, at age 18, she felt a call to full-time service, and specifically to what she described as “the unevangelized [[tribe]]s of [[Africa]].”<ref>Doering, Alma, Vision Victorious,(Germantown, PA:Office of the Unevangelized, 1940),  p. 16</ref>  Following this, she began speaking of her faith to everyone she met everywhere, and turned over her [[jewelry]] and other perceived luxuries to a mission society for sale.<ref>Doering, Alma, Vision Victorious, (Germantown, PA:Office of the Unevangelized, 1940), p. 40.</ref>

Alma attended and graduated from the [[Moody Bible Institute]] in Chicago.  While she was there, at age 18, she felt a call to full-time service, and specifically to what she described as “the unevangelized [[tribe]]s of [[Africa]].”<ref>Doering, Alma, Vision Victorious,(Germantown, PA:Office of the Unevangelized, 1940),  p. 16</ref>  Following this, she began speaking of her faith to everyone she met everywhere, and turned over her [[jewelry]] and other perceived luxuries to a mission society for sale.<ref>Doering, Alma, Vision Victorious, (Germantown, PA:Office of the Unevangelized, 1940), p. 40.</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>

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>

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 lost of all her goods three times 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 "November 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 lost of all her goods three times 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 "November 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===

===Founding of D&D Missionary Homes, 1949===

===Founding of D&D Missionary Homes, 1949===

Doering was the founding visionary behind D&D Missionary Homes.  After health problems prevented her from active service in Congo, she spent more energy in calling other Christians to help in the work.  In 1929 she met Stella Dunkelberger at a New Jersey Bible Conference after speaking about the need for missionaries to have a home while on furlough and after retirement.  Stella had been associated with the D.M. Stearns Missionary Fund in Germantown, PA. that had a couple of apartments used for missionaries on furlough.  The two became immediate friends, and Doering moved into a Stearns apartment.  The two made a final trip to Congo in 1938.  Recurring strokes forced Doering's resignation from Unevangelized Tribes Mission in 1948,<ref>Marjorie Creamer, Times Religion Writer, "Writer Provides a Restful Haven", St. Petersburg Times, July 1, 1967, p. 45.</ref> and in 1949 she and Dunkelberger joined talents to found D&D (for Doering and Dunkelberger) Missionary Homes in St. Petersburg, FL.<ref>Laurie Lindeman, "Missionaries Caring for One Another", St. Petersburg Times, May 17, 1975, p. 40.</ref>  They continued to live in Germanstown, traveling frequently to St. Petersburg to oversee the missionary homes there.  D&D started with one 12’x12’ cabin, but has grown to more than 50 homes on seven acres of property in 2015, and now includes a ministry to single mothers called “Next Step Village.”<ref>http://www.nextstepvillage.com/our-history.html  Accessed October 9, 2015</ref>

Doering was the founding visionary behind D&D Missionary Homes.  After health problems prevented her from active service in Congo, she spent more energy in calling other Christians to help in the work.  In 1929 she met Stella Dunkelberger at a New Jersey Bible Conference after speaking about the need for missionaries to have a home while on furlough and after retirement.  Stella had been associated with the D.M. Stearns Missionary Fund in Germantown, PA. that had a couple of apartments used for missionaries on furlough.  The two became immediate friends, and Doering moved into a Stearns apartment.  The two made a final trip to Congo in 1938.  Recurring strokes forced Doering's resignation from Unevangelized Tribes Mission in 1948,<ref>Marjorie Creamer, Times Religion Writer, "Writer Provides a Restful Haven", St. Petersburg Times, July 1, 1967, p. 45.</ref> and in 1949 she and Dunkelberger joined talents to found D&D (for Doering and Dunkelberger) Missionary Homes in St. Petersburg, FL.<ref>Laurie Lindeman, "Missionaries Caring for One Another", St. Petersburg Times, May 17, 1975, p. 40.</ref>  They continued to live in Germanstown, traveling frequently to St. Petersburg to oversee the missionary homes there.  D&D started with one 12’x12’ cabin, but has grown to more than 50 homes on seven acres of property in 2015, and now includes a ministry to single mothers called “Next Step Village.”<ref>http://www.nextstepvillage.com/our-history.html  Accessed October 9, 2015</ref>

   

   

After the death of Dunkelburger in 1953, Doering moved to D&D homes herself.

After the death of Dunkelburger in 1953, Doering moved to D&D homes herself.

==Death==

==Death==

Doering died quietly on July 12, 1959 in her favorite rocking chair at D&D Missionary Homes in St. Petersburg, FL.  She was 81.<ref>"Mennonite Weekly Review" Obituary: 27 Aug 1959, p. 5.</ref><ref>"Congo Mission News 1959: Zaire Church News, Vol. 185-206, p. 21.</ref><ref>"Alma Doering, Ex-Missionary, Dies at 81, St. Petersburg Times, July 13, 1959</ref>

Doering died quietly on July 12, 1959, in her favorite rocking chair at D&D Missionary Homes in St. Petersburg, FL.  She was 81.<ref>"Mennonite Weekly Review" Obituary: 27 Aug 1959, p. 5.</ref><ref>"Congo Mission News 1959: Zaire Church News, Vol. 185-206, p. 21.</ref><ref>"Alma Doering, Ex-Missionary, Dies at 81, St. Petersburg Times, July 13, 1959</ref>

==Publications==

==Publications==

41 articles authored by Alma Doering were published in 1912 and 1913 in the Pentecostal magazines “Confidence” and “Latter Rain Evangel”  (archived and accessible at www.IFPHC.org).

41 articles authored by Alma Doering were published in 1912 and 1913 in the Pentecostal magazines "Confidence" and "Latter Rain Evangel" (archived and accessible at www.IFPHC.org).

“Leopard Spots or God’s Masterpiece—Which?”

*"Leopard Spots or God’s Masterpiece—Which?" (Cleveland, OH: Evangel Publishing House, “Malembe” Publisher, c. 1916)

(Cleveland, OH: Evangel Publishing House, “Malembe” Publisher, c. 1916)

“Vision Victorious—Opening the Door to a Challenge”, Germantown, PA: Unevangelized Tribes Mission, 1939.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Doering, Alma}}

 

[[Category:Christian Authors]]

“His Way Out”, Germantown, PA: Office of the Unevangelized, 1940.

 

[[Category:Missionaries]]

[[Category:Missionaries]]

[[Category:Christian Missions]]

[[Category:Christian Missions]]