Tana Toraja is a landlocked regency (kabupaten) of South Sulawesi Province of Indonesia, and home to the Toraja ethnic group. It covers an area of 2,054.30 km2 (793.17 sq mi) and had a population of 221,081 at the 2010 census and 280,794 at the 2020 census; the official estimate as at mid 2022 was 291,046, but the official figure for mid 2023 was a much reduced total of 257,901.
The Torajan are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their population is approximately 1,100,000, of whom 450,000 live in the regency of Tana Toraja. Most of the population is Christian, and others are Muslim or have local animist beliefs known as aluk. The Indonesian government has recognised this animistic belief as Aluk To Dolo as well as Hindu Alukta, namely, a form of Hinduism in Indonesia.
Christianity is Indonesia's second-largest religion, after Islam. Indonesia also has the second-largest Christian population in Southeast Asia after the Philippines, the largest Protestant population in Southeast Asia, and the third-largest Christian population in Asia after the Philippines and China. Indonesia also has the second-largest Christian population in the Muslim world, after Nigeria, followed by Egypt. Indonesia's 29.4 million Christians constituted 10.47% of the country's population in 2023, with 7.41% Protestant and 3.06% Catholic. Some provinces in Indonesia are majority Christian. In Indonesia, the word Kristen refers to Protestantism, while Catholicism is referred to as Katolik. In the 21st century the rate of growth and spread of Christianity has increased, especially among the Chinese minority.
Protestantism is one of the six approved religions in Indonesia, the others being Islam, Roman Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. It constitutes the bulk of Christianity in Indonesia, which is the second largest religion in the country after Islam.
Rantepao is a town and the capital of North Toraja Regency, which is known for being the cultural center of the Toraja ethnic group. National and regional tourism offices have developed the city as the starting point for visiting Tana Toraja, since the area was opened for tourism in the 1970s.
The Gereja Batak Karo Protestan or Karo Batak Protestant Church is the largest church among the largely Christian Karo people of North Sumatra, Indonesia. It was established formally in 1941.
Pong Tiku, known among his Buginese allies as Ne' Baso, was a Torajan leader and guerrilla fighter who operated in southern Sulawesi, part of modern-day Indonesia.
The Evangelical Christian Church in Halmahera (GMIH) represents the half of the population in the island of Halmahera, in Indonesia.
The Protestant Church in Indonesia is a Reformed church; it is a member of World Communion of Reformed Churches.
The Christian Evangelical Church in Minahasa is a Protestant, Calvinist and Reformed church in Indonesia. It was founded in North Sulawesi on 30 September 1934.
The Toraja Mamasa Church was established on 7 June 1947, and based in West Sulawesi. It is a Protestant church, and a member of the World Communion of Reformed Churches. It was a fruit of the Christian Reformed Churches in the Netherlands, a conservative Reformed denomination. Evangelism was started in 1931. These churches were grouped together in 1948 to form an independent denomination. This is the largest church in the Mamasa Valley.
The Protestant Christian Church in Bali is a Reformed denomination established in 1931 in Bali, Indonesia by the Christian and Missionary Alliance with help from the Dutch Reformed Church and the Church in East Java. The denomination adopted its current name on 21 April 1949. There are also churches located in Hamburg, Germany, Bern and Amsterdam.
The Pasundan Christian Church was officially established in Indonesia on 14 November 1934. It has 51 congregations and 33,000 members. It is a member of the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC).
Evangelical Christian Church of the Land of Papua is a Protestant denomination in Indonesia, particularly in western Papua region.
Antonie Aris van de Loosdrecht was a Dutch missionary. He was sent by Gereformeerde Zendingsbond, a Christian missionary agency which was established in the Netherlands.
Johannes "Hans" Belksma was a Dutch missionary. He was sent by Gereformeerde Zendingsbond, a missionary agency in Utrecht, Netherlands, to work in the Dutch East Indies.
Hendrik van der Veen (1888–1977) was a Dutch missionary worker and linguist who worked in Tana Toraja, Dutch East Indies.
Rev. Ishak Pamumbu Lambe was an Indonesian Torajan Christian pastor and politician. He served as a senator in the national Regional Representative Council from 2004 to 2009. Lambe was also the former chairman of the Toraja Church Synod Worker's Agency, a Protestant denomination headquartered in the Tana Toraja Regency of South Sulawesi, from 1992 to 2001.
