Ecumenical formation does not only happen in a classroom or meeting of denominational churches, as we have done in conventional ways.

Ecumenical formation often remains trapped in its own institutional logic. It remains patriarchal, culturally detached, and anthropocentric, rendering women as objects rather than subjects of theology. What is therefore needed is a shift from a formation about ecumenism to a formation that is formed by the margins: a decolonial, feminist, and eco-centric approach that takes seriously the wisdom of local communities and the agency of women not as an add-on agenda, but as constitutive of what it means to be ecumenical.

Two local pieces of wisdom from Toraja, an indigenous Austronesian ethnic group and their mountainous homeland in the South Sulawesi province of Indonesia, ground this epistemology from the margins, and both are intimately close to women as the rahim kehidupan (womb of life): Tallu Lolona and Sangserekan. Tallu Lolona—the philosophy of three intertwined lives: lolo tau (human life), lolo patuan (animal life), and lolo tananan (plant life)—embodies a relational cosmology sustained and guarded by women in their daily practices of nurturing, farming, and weaving. Complementing this, Sangserekan—the value of shared kinship, of being bound as one family who eats together from one plate—is practiced and transmitted by women through food, hospitality, and communal care.

In the highlands of Toraja, climate change is not an abstract theoretical debate. It is an immediate, daily reality. We experience unpredictable weather shifts, severe landslides, water scarcity, and disrupted planting seasons that directly threaten local food security.

The question is, who is responsible for this problem? That is our problem; we live in one house.

From my perspective, as a woman pastor and as a lecturer, we immediately notice three significant limitations: It is seminary-centric, anthropocentric, and culturally detached. To address these challenges, we need a theological vision that connects local cultural wisdom, environmental crisis, and church unity. In Toraja, we find this bridge in the Indigenous philosophy of Tallulolona.

Within a locally-rooted ecumenical movement grounded in local wisdom and a feminist theological approach that starts from women's experiences, this marginal position is not a deficit but an epistemological advantage.

Start from the local wisdom

The locus of ecumenical formation is shifting: from formal classrooms to living ecological landscapes, led not primarily by academic theologians, but by grassroots Christian women.

To address these challenges, we need a theological vision that connects local cultural wisdom, environmental crisis, and church unity. In Toraja, we find this bridge in the Indigenous philosophy of Tallulolona. Literally translated, Tallulolona means "three living sprouts that grow." It is an ancient Torajan worldview that asserts a sacred, relational brotherhood between three realms of creation: Lolo Tau (human life), Lolo Tananan (plant life and crops), and Lolo Patuoan (animal life and living creatures).

In Tallulolona, humans (lolo tau), plants (lolo tananan), and animals (lolo patuoan) possess an equal, sacred dignity before the Creator. When we bring Tallulolona into dialogue with Christian eco-theology, something transformative happens to our understanding of the ecumenical movement: we expand the "household of God" (oikoumene), and we move from institutional unity to cosmic healing.

Torajan women as primary agents

Now we must ask the crucial question: Who is actually bringing Tallulolona to life in response to climate change? This brings us to the core empirical contribution of our research: Torajan Christian women.

When these women gather across denominational lines to conserve water sources, preserve local seed varieties, manage organic household gardens, and respond to disasters, they are practicing lived theology (theologia prima).They are turning the suffering landscape into a vibrant, living-learning ecology.

Global implications

What does the experience of Torajan women mean for global theological education ecumenically?

It offers three major insights: shifting the locus of learning, eco-ecumenism from below, and contributions from the Global South to world Christianity.

In conclusion, ecumenical formation must move beyond its conventional, patriarchal, seminary-centric and anthropocentric model—which has failed to answer the lived economic crisis of climate change—to a formation formed by the margins. Drawing from Toraja, true ecumenism is already lived by women as rahim kehidupan through Tallu Lolona (the sacred brotherhood of lolo tau, lolo patuan, lolo tananan, and Sangserekan (one family eating from one plate). This is eco-ecumenism from below: women are not objects but theological subjects who heal the oikoumene from institutional unity into cosmic kinship.

SOURCE>WCC

Rev. Dr Johana R. Tangirerung

About the author :

Rev. Dr Johana R. Tangirerung, M.Th., is a volunteer member of MPM Kondoran since 2025. She actively encourages women and young people to promote agriculture for food security. She currently serves as a commissioner for Ecumenical Education and Formation at the World Council of Churches. Toraja Church (reformation church, Toraja Christian University of Indonesia (Associate Professor).