Date: August 6, 2026
Inspired by the Garden Church movement in England, TryTank launched its El Jardin initiative in 2025 to nurture a network of lay-led missional communities that encourage simple, replicable “church” in the home.
We planted with modest hopes.
The plan called for four Jardines in Puerto Rico by summer of 2026.
Instead, there are eleven. These are small communities gathering midweek in homes and other spaces across the island to share a meal, open the Scriptures, pray, and practice the way of Jesus together, all without clergy in the room.
That kind of growth is a gift and a responsibility. So, our work now turns to the leaders.
We are building a lay-leadership formation path: a 32-week certification in missional lay leadership, grounded in the Ver, Escuchar, Discernir, Actuar, Reflexionar (see, listen, discern, act, reflect) method, built around short weekly videos, real field practice, and a portfolio that proves readiness rather than mere attendance.
The vision reaches further still: bringing this model to the mainland as a way to grow lay leaders and seed Spanish-language missions across the church.
God makes things grow. We tend the soil.
The Rev. Lorenzo Lebrija, DMin, (VTS ’24), MBA
Chief Innovation Officer, Virginia Theological Seminary and Executive Director, TryTank Research Institute