In August, Doris Brougham, a missionary for 72 years, died at age 98. Doris’s life demonstrates the potential impact a person can have when dedicated to following God’s call wherever it leads. In her case, that place was Taiwan. 

Doris’s serious faith, love of music, and desire to help the needy came from her parents. When she was twelve, a Chinese evangelist asked if anyone at the Bible camp Doris attended was willing to go to China. Doris raised her hand, much to the amusement of the people around her. 

At seventeen, she turned down a scholarship to Eastman School of Music in order to fulfill the promise she made. Five years later, in 1948, she boarded a steamer to China. That year, Mao’s forces were taking over the country. In the chaos of the civil unrest, Doris lost almost everything she owned (except her trumpet). For the next three years, she worked to treat injured soldiers, led Bible studies, and shared the Gospel. In 1951, she was evacuated to Taiwan. 

At the time, Taiwan was 99% Buddhist. Seeing Buddhist funerals every week, Doris quickly realized people were dying faster than she could reach them for Christ. So, she started a radio program where local pastors would preach, and she would play gospel music with her trumpet. Later, Doris told the story of a Buddhist nun stopping her on the street. She had heard the program and quietly asked Doris where she could get a Bible. 

When TV arrived in Taiwan, the government allowed one slot for religious programming. Despite a small budget, Doris was awarded the program over larger and better funded religious groups, in part because she had music. The show’s choir, Heavenly Melody Singers, was the first Christian music group in Taiwan. In the years since, the Singers have recorded over 30 albums and toured in 36 countries. Heavenly Melody performs many of its own compositions, including some of the first worship songs ever written in Chinese.  

When the show premiered in 1963, televisions were scarce in Taiwan. Often people would crowd around the TVs in Buddhist temples to watch Doris’s program. She would later comment, “How often can you preach in a Buddhist temple? God had a plan for that to happen.” 

At the time, there was very little English instruction available in Taiwan. President Chiang Kai-Shek asked Doris to teach English to government officials, including his cabinet. In 1962, the Ministry of Education asked the state-run radio station to produce a program to teach English. The station turned to Doris, and she began a new program called “Studio Classroom.” When people began to ask for transcripts of the programs, Doris started a magazine to reinforce what was taught on the radio. Eventually, a program for younger students and an advanced program were added, along with two television shows that integrated together into a comprehensive English language learning system. In fact, her ministry, Overseas Radio and Television (ORTV) continues to host English language Bible studies weekly across Taipei. People watch to practice English. In the process, they hear the Gospel. 

As former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-Jeou wrote in the introduction to a Chinese-language biography of Doris, she taught English to twenty million people. It’s fair to say that nearly everyone in Taiwan who knows English learned at least some of it from ORTV. 

People would regularly stop Doris, the best-known foreigner in Taiwan, to take selfies with her. She was also recognized by the government. In 2002, she was awarded the Order of the Brilliant Star with Violet Grand Cordon, Taiwan’s highest civilian award, and in 2023 was granted Taiwanese citizenship. 

ORTV’s English programs help fund the ministry, which continues to engage in evangelism. At one of last year’s Christmas concerts, Doris told the audience,  

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. 

Now, after seven decades of service, that’s where Doris Brougham is.