The oldest parts of the building date from the early Middle Ages, though its present form results from successive alterations. The nave was widened westward in 1708, and in 1789 (or, by another account, 1798) a full-width rounded chancel, a north sacristy and a west porch were added. A larger rebuilding in 1915 removed the porch and replaced it with the current tower, giving the church its neoclassical interior, including painted board vaulting from 1822.
Among the oldest furnishings is a 12th-century sandstone font decorated with tree-of-life and animal motifs, along with a carved stone from the same period kept inside the church. During sacristy work in 1974, a brick-lined burial chamber thought to date from the 1600s or 1700s was discovered beneath the chancel floor. A damaged carved figure of St John is said to originate from a 15th-century altar cabinet made in Lübeck, though this attribution rests on tradition rather than firm documentation.
The Renaissance-style pulpit was made in the early 1600s for Skara Cathedral, from where it was later brought to Tengene — sources differ slightly on the date, giving either 1709 or 1721. The Baroque altarpiece is dated to 1742, and two Baroque-style chairs in the chancel, along with a limestone memorial slab to a local provost, are said to date from the late 1600s.
Outside the church stands a detached bell tower, built in the early 1800s, which houses one older and one newer bell; the oldest bell is said to have been cast as early as the 13th century, though the smaller bell in the tower is described as an undated, uninscribed type similar to one in nearby Saleby.
The organ has an interesting history: its façade was built in 1763 by Jonas Wistenius for a church in Svarttorp, then moved to Tengene in 1877. In 1915 a new mechanical organ incorporating the old façade pipework was built by Nordfors & Co of Lidköping, later enlarged in 1959–60.