Teacher Doris’ Mission for Christ
Doris Brougham 彭蒙惠(1926-2024) passed away on August 6, 2024, one day after her 98th birthday. Doris is mostly remembered as the founder of Studio Classroom, an English education organisation based in Taiwan […]
Doris Brougham 彭蒙惠(1926-2024) passed away on August 6, 2024, one day after her 98th birthday. Doris is mostly remembered as the founder of Studio Classroom, an English education organisation based in Taiwan that has helped native Chinese speakers all over the world learn English for over 70 years. Doris is Taiwan’s “national English teacher”, as its most popular Christian TV show claimed. However, Teacher Doris was essentially a missionary and evangelist.
“I Was on a Mission”
Doris was born to a musically talented Christian family in Seattle, the USA. At the age of 12, she heard God’s call to be a missionary to China when listening to a Chinese evangelist preaching in her hometown. Doris arrived in Shanghai as a member of the Evangelical Alliance Mission in 1948 when China was torn by the Civil War between the Communists and the nationalists. She had to escape to Hongkong and later to Taiwan in 1951, where she stayed for the rest of her life. Doris set up her mission in Hualien where most aboriginal people dwelt and few churches were to be found. Apart from teaching music at the local theological college, she built a church and taught in her own Sunday School. Assisted by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Doris soon started broadcasting her Bible study on the radio to reach more people. She learnt the aboriginal languages and was given a name called Rebekah (利百加), meaning “lilies in the valleys of Hualien”. The radio program later became the Voice of Salvation and then the Overseas Radio and TV (ORTV) Inc. in 1962. Doris also founded Studio Classroom, an enterprise engaged in English teaching and publication, and Heavenly Melody, a choir engaged in original praise music composition and Gospel concerts. Doris had taught English to 22 million people in Taiwan and many more in the world. Through her twin ministries of English and music, Doris had witnessed thousands of people coming to faith in Jesus. Whatever she did, she was on God’s mission into which she was called at the age of 12.
Image from https://ct.org.tw/html/news/3-3.php?cat=10&article=1399528
Image from https://ct.org.tw/html/news/3-3.php?cat=10&article=1399528
Image from https://ct.org.tw/html/news/3-3.php?cat=10&article=1399528
The obituary article on Christianity Today is a wonderful read to learn about Doris Brougham’s mission work through English and music. I found some interesting points:
- 10 years’ preparation for God’s calling
Doris heard God’s call at the age of 12 when she was listening to a sermon by a Chinese evangelist. She raised her hand showing she would go to China to help people in their need. It was 5 years later that God reminded her of this call with Psalm 2:8 which says, “Ask me, and I will make the nations your heritage, the ends of the earth your possession.” This led to her rejection of a music scholarship in New York. Another 5 years later, she experienced numerous hardships travelling in wartime China sharing the Gospel.
- “God led me here”
Doris did not mean to go to Taiwan. She was sent to mission in mainland China. But the Civil War forced her to settle down in Taiwan. She started the first Christian radio station and the first Christian singing group in Taiwan. Because of her love of music and experiences in radio broadcasting, the Taiwanese government commissioned her to teach English on radio. God led her to Taiwan and had planned work for her to do. She did God’s work every day for 73 years!
- “You have to connect, not just communicate”
Doris was in disposition an introvert, but she worked for the Gospel unashamedly, and made good use of her talents in public. One gift of hers was music. She learned saxophone, trumpet and French horn as a child. The other God-given gift was obviously language. She was the best among English teachers for her beautiful enunciation and vivid teaching. Doris used to say, “you had to do something to get their attention.” Music and English were 2 major things Doris that did her whole life to direct people’s attention to the Gospel.
What can we learn from Doris’ life?
There is so much we can learn from Doris. I would briefly refer to three lessons, namely, the meaning of life, the purpose of life, the art of evangelising.
- The meaning of life
Doris would find life meaningless without the Gospel. She centred her life on it. She had missed the death beds of her parents, and had missed marriage. She stayed single and childless for a long life. Yet she had no regrets for she lived her life for God. She believed she had walked on the path God led her on. One of her quotes was found on Facebook–
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=889301403243542&set=a.462631512577202
- The purpose of life
A meaningful life of no regret is driven by purpose. No matter how good she was at teaching English or performing music, Doris’ sole purpose was to spread the Gospel. During a Christmas concert, Doris, at the age of 97, said to her audience with great passion: ‘I’ve been in Asia for more than 70 years, and I’ve always told people that God loves everyone so much that he sent his only son, Jesus, into the world to die on the cross for our sins, so that we could be forgiven of our sins and spend eternity with him.’
- Language as the art of evangelism
Every Christian could be an evangelist of a sort. We are taught to do everything for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31), and as we do, we demonstrate to the world that Christ lives in us (Galatians 2:20). Doris taught and performed for the glory of God, and by so doing, she showed people the Christ in her and drew them to God.
Language and music were Doris’ tools to evangelise, and she evangelised artfully. It is not surprising that music connects people, for it often touches human soul. However, it is the fact and testimony of many, that learning English has helped the Chinese people better understand the Gospel. Though the Gospel is universal and timeless, Protestantism did not come to Taiwan until 17th century and China mainland until 1807. Situated in their own traditions and culture, many Chinese people think that Christianity was introduced from the West. Indeed, when numerous Western missionaries laboured hard on Chinese soil, the civilisation they exposed to the Chinese was one founded on Christianity. In Doris’ time, Taiwan was at the threshold of modernisation. Doris was meeting people’s personal needs as well as the nation’s.
The world may remember Doris Brougham as a good teacher, talented musician and successful entrepreneur. But first of all she was a faithful servant of God. She achieved much because she always aimed at honouring and pleasing God. God blessed her and Taiwan.
Resources
A Friend for Life (an interview in Chinese). Good TV. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs4P5wV1B70
Died: Doris Brougham, Missionary Who Taught English to Taiwan. Christianity Today. https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2024/august/doris-brougham-missionary-taiwan-studio-classroom.html
Half a Century of Love for Taiwan – Doris Brougham. Taiwan Panorama. https://www.taiwan-panorama.com/en/Articles/Details?Guid=fc571666-a5c0-4774-8419-589c5bea3c90&CatId=11&postname=Half%20a%20Century%20of%20Love%20for%20Taiwan–Doris%20Brougham
Taiwan in Time: Deeply devoted educator and missionary. Taipei Times. https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2024/08/11/2003822063
– Sonia Liang
