Spiritual Health Inventory

Members of my congregation, Berkey Avenue Mennonite in Goshen, Indiana, encouraged me to develop a pencil-and-paper instrument that would help us to think about what makes for good spiritual wellness. After I prepared a first draft, they offered many excellent suggestions for improvement. A Spiritual Health Inventory, linked below, was the result.

Since this inventory is not a scientific instrument, its value lies mostly in helping us to think about what spiritual health is and what moves us toward or away from that health. What criteria do we use to determine if we are spiritually well or unwell? How do we measure spiritual health?

Christians from different times and places have answered these questions in different ways. A simple but obvious example is that for most of Christian history few people would have devoted an entire section of an inventory like this to the quality of our relationship with creation. That’s a new understanding we've come to because of what appears to be looming environmental crises on several fronts.

I’m pleased that this portion of my website has been by far the most popular--more people look at it than anything else. You’re welcome to print out a copy of this for your own use. Since it’s far from perfect, you can also adapt it any way you like. However, I’d be grateful to know about any improvements you make so I can learn from them too. People have already made numerous excellent suggestions which I’ve taken seriously. Please contact me at dan@danschrock.org.

Spiritual Health Inventory (PDF format)

Spiritual Health Inventory (Word format)