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Tend offers a simple way to grow as a disciple, make faith visible, and connect with your neighbors through pastor-approved practices that care for God’s earth.

As a leader, you won’t have to teach. Tend guides you every step. As a 10-week small group experience that fits real life, Tend starts small, with just a few households gathering weekly. Some weeks, your group will enjoy a simple meal together and discuss Scripture. On alternating weeks, you’ll welcome friends and neighbors to join you in hands-on Earthcare Activities that are grounded in Scripture and designed to connect you to creation, such as gardening, hiking, or cleaning up a shared space.

A small group community that welcomes all ages and stages to connect with neighbors as they care for creation. Five households meet weekly for 10 weeks, alternating between Bible-based Dinner & Discussion nights and hands-on Earthcare Activities. No teaching required. Tend provides word-by-word scripts—so you can just come with curiosity and join the conversation.

Tend is designed for busy people who don’t have time for lots of prep. It comes ready to run and requires no professional training. Your group will meet once a week for 10 weeks, and each gathering lasts about 90 minutes. Every week, you’ll need just ±20 minutes of prep time to send reminder texts, review the materials, and get an idea of what’s ahead. The rest takes care of itself!

Tend is made for real life and real people. Whether your group is adults, youth, seniors, or a mix of ages including families with kids, Tend makes faith visible by fitting into everyday rhythms. Designed for people of all abilities and communities of every kind—from rural farmland to city blocks—Tend helps groups grow in faith and connect connect with God, neighbors, and the earth.

Tend is an initiative of Plant With Purpose, an international Christian environmental and development organization. Plant With Purpose partners with 1,500 churches in developing nations worldwide and has seen those churches flourish and transform their communities as they embrace their identity as stewards of creation. Plant With Purpose hopes that U.S. churches will experience this transformation too. The Lilly Endowment has funded Tend as a resource that will help congregations thrive. You can learn more about Plant With Purpose at plantwithpurpose.org.

It’s free! The cost for Tend has been paid through a grant from the Lilly Endowment to help American Christian churches thrive. Thanks to the grant, the Tend curriculum is available to you for free. All we ask is that you provide feedback on your Tend experience through our short surveys.

The cost of developing and distributing Tend has been covered through a grant from the Lilly Endowment, aimed at helping American Christian Churches thrive. As a result, the Tend curriculum is being made available free to Christian churches, church planters, and more.

Our only request is that you share feedback about your experience and help grow the Tend community.

One of the greatest joys is watching someone come to faith. Jesus loves to use people like us to make the introduction. The trouble is, most of us have only seen this modeled as awkward “cold calls” to strangers. 

Inviting neighbors shouldn’t feel like “cold calling.” It’s simply extending a genuine invitation to take part in something good for the neighborhood, together.

Keep in mind that neighbors aren’t just the people who live next door. They’re the ones you chat with at the gym, text about school pick-up, cheer with at your kid’s games, or bump into at the coffee shop. They may not live on your block, but they’re already connected to your life.

Tend makes it easy for you to help your neighbors discover the love of God in natural ways, and it doesn’t have to be weird at all.

Tend works for churches of any size! It can start small and scale to any size. To begin, all you need is four or five households that will meet weekly to share meals, explore Scripture, and participate in hands-on projects to tend to God’s creation.

Caring for the earth isn’t just a trendy add-on to our faith. From the beginning, we were created to live in harmony with God, one another, and all the earth. Sin fractured that harmony. But through Jesus, God began restoring it, promising a new creation where heaven and earth meet again.

We participate in God’s work of healing relationships when we care for the earth—because by helping creation thrive, we help build communities where everyone has enough. It also opens the door to partner with neighbors who don’t follow Jesus but who share a desire to tend the earth. As we build relationship around our common interest, we have the opportunity to witness to the Creator of it all.

Tend is designed for lay leaders (but you can still lead it if you like!). It comes with a step-by-step, biblically rooted guide that makes leading simple for anyone—no matter their level of experience. 

When looking for a leader in your church, focus on people who connect naturally with others. All they need is a willing heart and a desire to see others grow as disciples and reach their community.

Tend is an initiative of Plant With Purpose, an interdenominational Christian organization with members and participants from a wide variety of denominational backgrounds. 

Tend serves churches of all sizes and traditions by providing a group experience that’s grounded in Scripture and designed to fit naturally within your church’s existing rhythms.

You can read the Plant With Purpose Statement of Faith by visiting plantwithpurpose.org/statement-of-faith.