Spiritual Health Assessment
The goal of the Christian life is to grow in our love for God and allow him to transform us from the inside out, ultimately becoming more and more like his son Jesus. To do that, it’s important to assess and manage your spiritual health.
This assessment tool is designed to help you evaluate a starting point from which you can begin to pursue a healthier spiritual life by focusing on one or more markers of spiritual health.
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Take the Assessment
Take our online assessment to determine how you’re doing in seven key areas of spiritual health.
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Get Your Results
Use your results to determine which area(s) of growth you’d like to focus on
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Grow in Your Spiritual Health
Use the resources below to help you take steps of growth.
Spiritual Health Markers
Select a topic to jump to that section and learn more.
Bible Engagement
About Bible Engagement:
The Bible is God’s revelation of spiritual truth and His will for us. Because of that, consistent engagement with scripture and Biblical teaching is significant for our spiritual growth.
Reading, reflecting upon, and applying the Bible to our lives shapes the way we think. It reveals how God wants to transform us to be more like Him. It gives us an understanding of God’s character and provides us with wisdom to navigate every situation that we encounter in life.
We hope you’ll have a daily rhythm of engaging with the Bible, where you’re not just reading the words on the page but allowing those words to impact your life - to search your heart and speak to you.
Also, we hope that you’re regularly listening to Biblical teaching to encourage you. As you do, you’ll grow in your knowledge and love of scripture, equipping you to make scripture the roadmap for your life.
Resources to help you grow in Bible Engagement:
📱 App: The YouVersion Bible App
Our recommendation for a free Bible for your phone and tablet.
▶️ Videos: Intro to the Bible
A series of 4 short animated videos. The Bible is the most influential book in human history, but what is it? This video series will help you understand the Bible and see its unified message.
🖥️ Message: Why Is the Bible Important?
An Epic Church teaching about the Bible's importance and usefulness through a study of Psalm 119.
📖 Reading Plan: How To Start Reading the Bible
A 4-day guided Bible study plan to learn about why the Bible is important, how to start a daily reading habit, and how it applies to our lives today.
📖 Reading Plan: How To Read the Bible
A 19-day guided Bible study plan designed to introduce you to the Bible and its unique design, various genres, and unified story.
📖 Reading Plan: The Bible in One Year
A year-long guided Bible study plan to help you read through the entire Bible. You can read or listen to it daily with commentary from pastor Nicky Gumbel.
📕 Book: How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth
A book that provides guidance on how to read and interpret the Bible. In clear, simple language, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth helps you accurately understand the different parts of the Bible—their meaning for ancient audiences and their implications for you today—so you can uncover the inexhaustible wealth of God's Word.
If these resources haven’t been helpful or you have a specific question, please email us at info@epic.church and we’d be glad to help you.
Community
About Community:
Biblical community is found by developing sincere, loving relationships with other followers of Jesus. Biblical community is unique because it’s motivated by the sacrificial love we’ve received from Jesus and modeled after His example and the teachings of scripture.
Scripture tells us that followers of Jesus create a spiritual family and that together, we form the Body of Christ, a physical representation of the many beautiful attributes of Jesus. Community can be found in large worship gatherings, but the most important aspects can only be found in smaller gatherings when everyone can mutually know and be known by each other.
So much of what Jesus and the apostles taught can only be lived out within relationships. Instructions like “love each other,” “serve each other,” “forgive each other,” “confess to one another,” and “encourage one another” can’t be obeyed outside of the context of community.
So our hope for you is that you’d regularly pursue authentic relationships within the church and that you’d join a Group. You can focus on living out these critical “one another” teachings at this smaller gathering.
Resources to help you grow in Community:
🖥️ Message: How to Find and Build Community
When life’s troubles come, and they will, we all need to have some people around us to help. But if you wait to build community, you often won’t have it when you need it. Community is something to build and prioritize now.
🖥️ Message: Friending is Hard
We have full schedules, work, bills, marriage, kids, the list goes on—how do you develop close friendships with so many challenges in the way? We had a conversation with some friends to talk it out.
💬 Epic Groups: Join a Group
Groups are made up of 5-15 people who meet up over the course of a semester. They create a space for people to intentionally share their lives with others, grow spiritually together, and encourage each other through the highs and lows of life.
📄 Article: The Art of One-Anothering
How to interact with each other in Christian community.
📄 Article: How to Make the Most of Your Group
6 ways to get more out of your life group experience.
If these resources haven’t been helpful or you have a specific question, please email us at info@epic.church and we’d be glad to help you.
Prayer
About Prayer:
Prayer is a two-way conversation with God - both talking and listening. It can be a simple cry of “help” during a challenging situation or an extended focused conversation. It can be done independently, with a friend, or in a larger group. It includes asking, thanking, confessing, being still, reflecting, and so much more.
Every relationship is built on communication, and our relationship with God is no different. Scripture tells us to pray continually. That doesn’t mean that we need to quit our jobs and join a monastery, but rather that an attitude of prayer, always listening for God’s guidance and inviting him into all we do, can be our default disposition.
We want prayer to be a consistent and regular part of your daily life - not just to check a box but because it’s a lifeline for you, something you look forward to doing to connect with your heavenly Father. We can be confident that God hears us and meets us where we’re at when we come to Him in faith.
Resources to help you grow in Prayer:
🖥️ Message Series: Amen: How to Pray and Why It Matters
Prayer can be frustrating, confusing, or even intimidating, depending on your background. But prayer is one of the most important things we can do, and fortunately, Jesus teaches us how.
📕 Book: How to Pray: A Simple Guide for Normal People
This book is a raw, real, and relevant look at prayer for everyone―from the committed follower of Jesus to the skeptic and the scared. Full of biblically sound wisdom, How to Pray will offer honest encouragement and real-life methods to refresh your spirit and help you practice life-giving and lifechanging prayer.
🔗 Collection: Prayer resources provided by the Navigators
Browse a collection of prayer tools, including free PDF downloads, book excerpts, and even full eBooks. As you explore these prayer resources, strengthen your connection with God and discover more of who He is through your prayer life.
🔗 Collection: Prayer resources provided by NewSpring Church
It’s bigger than a blessing over food, or something we do before sporting events, prayer is a constant line of communication with God. Use these resources to discover more about what prayer is, learn how to pray, and experience real stories of how God works through prayer.
▶️ Videos: Get Growing series on YouTube
A series of short teaching videos from Pastor Jake Rainwater focusing on topics of prayer and guiding you through praying through the Lord’s Prayer. Start with Episode 09 and continue through Episode 01.
If these resources haven’t been helpful or you have a specific question, please email us at info@epic.church and we’d be glad to help you.
Worship
About Worship:
Worship is a lifestyle that reflects that everything we are and have comes from God and is for God. That’s the heart and perspective that should overflow into everything we do.
We can worship with others when we gather regularly with God’s people and also in the flow of a typical day. It includes things we think of as intrinsically spiritual, like singing songs to God, and the everyday, ordinary activities of life.
How we study and work, treat people, and steward the talents and possessions that God entrusts to us are all important ways we worship. Because worship starts with our heart posture, it can transform every area of life into an opportunity to reflect the all-surpassing worth of God.
We want you to regularly spend time in intentional, focused worship and allow the heart of worship to shape and define every activity you engage in throughout your day.
Resources to help you grow in Worship:
▶️ Video: What is Worship?
A one-minute video explaining worship from pastor Francis Chan.
📖 Reading Plan: Everyday Worship
A 6-day guided Bible study plan. Worshiping God is so much more than singing songs in church. Worship should be how we live. In this Bible Plan, we’ll discover what it looks like to worship God in our everyday lives.
📄 Article: Work As Worship
Worship as God designed it is seamless. It encompasses everything in life. All that we are, all that we say, all that we do is to be an act of worship before God. We were created with worship in mind. And if we were created with worship in mind, we were created with work in mind.
🎧 Spotify Playlist: Epic Worship: Songs We Sing
These songs are currently our soundtrack of worship at Epic.
🖥️ Message: How Music Helps You Grow
There’s something in music that moves us. Psalm 63 teaches us about worship, and how we can bring all of ourselves to God—the good, the bad, and everything in between.
If these resources haven’t been helpful or you have a specific question, please email us at info@epic.church and we’d be glad to help you.
Service
About Service:
Service is modeling the humility and love of Christ by giving your time, energy, and talents for the good of others. When Jesus washed His disciples’ feet at the Last Supper, He told them that He had set an example for how they should treat each other by putting the needs of others before their own. Jesus also said to them that the greatest among them would be their servant, underscoring how important acts of service are in His eyes.
Scripture calls followers of Jesus to serve all people but places a specific focus on service to the poor and marginalized and to others within the faith community. There is a unique witness to those who are watching when service is performed without the chance of repayment and also whenever a large group of people all put the preferences of others before their own.
So, at Epic, we encourage each person to find their place to serve within our church community, using their God-given gifts and abilities to serve in their spiritual family. We also pursue opportunities to serve outside our church community, understanding that service is a beautiful opportunity to reflect God’s love for the world.
We hope that you’ll find regular service opportunities both within and outside the church and that the humility and love of Jesus you’ve experienced will compel you to imitate His example.
Resources to help you grow in Service:
🖥️ Message: How to Make Serving Others a Regular Part of Life
Over 90% of Americans want to volunteer, but only 1 in 4 actually do. Why is that? And how do we make sure we’re people who give of ourselves generously?
📄 Article: 10 Easy Ways to Serve Somebody Today
Is serving really a big deal? According to Jesus, it is. Here are 10 practical ways you can serve someone today.
👐 Epic Teams: Join a Team
Serving on a Team is a great way to get connected with others and make a difference.
🔗 Epic Community Outreach: ForPhilly.com
ForPhilly is the community outreach hub of Epic Church. We organize large service projects as well as provide a listing of our community outreach partners, so you can connect and serve with your friends.
📕 Book: S.H.A.P.E.: Finding and Fulfilling Your Unique Purpose for Life
In this book, discover God’s unique purpose for your life based on the way He has shaped you with your Spiritual Gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, and Experiences. He made you marvelously unique for a reason.
If these resources haven’t been helpful or you have a specific question, please email us at info@epic.church and we’d be glad to help you.
Generosity
About Generosity:
A generous lifestyle comes from an understanding that God is the creator, sustainer, and provider of everything. It’s also the natural byproduct of believing that every resource we’ve been entrusted with here on earth is temporary and is best invested for eternal purposes- helping to bring people into a life-giving relationship with Jesus and storing up for ourselves eternal rewards that far surpass anything we could accumulate here on earth.
Generosity should not just define how we manage our financial resources, but also our possessions, time, energy, talent, and words. Generous people glorify God by reflecting what He’s like and demonstrating that our love for Him surpasses our love of anything else.
We hope that you embrace the truth that everything you have is a gift from God and that you continually grow in grateful generosity with every asset He has entrusted you.
Resources to help you grow in Generosity:
🖥️ Message Series: Money Moves
Do you manage your money, or does your money manage you? If you’re like most people, it’s those dollars that are in charge. So in this series, we’re gonna help you make some money moves that’ll flip the script and put your money in its place.
📄 Article: 20 Ways to Become More Generous Christians
Here are 20 things you can do right now to practice Christian generosity.
🔗 Collection: 6 Bible-based financial studies provided by Cru
Scripture provides principles we need for wise and faithful money management. This study series covers the important topics of debt, saving, giving, and developing your spending plan. It will help you to be smart about money. Then you can maximize your ministry, work, and financial life goals. This will give you peace of mind with money throughout your lifetime.
📄 Article: 4 Creative Ways to Be Generous
It is possible to be generous even when finances are tight.
📱 App: EveryDollar
A simple-to-use budgeting app. The free version gives you the basics you’ll need to get started: a simple way to budget, plan expenses, and track spending.
If these resources haven’t been helpful or you have a specific question, please email us at info@epic.church and we’d be glad to help you.
Disciple-making
About Disciple-making:
When we follow Jesus, we choose to make His priorities our priorities. So what were His priorities? Jesus shared His mission statement in Luke 19:10 when He said, “The Son of Man came to seek and save what is lost.”
Jesus was driven by His desire to bring people into a right relationship with God through forgiving their sins so that they can be transformed into the people He created them to be and spend eternity with Him. That’s what motivated Him to lay down His life for humankind and should motivate us to do the same.
And Jesus’ mission didn’t end with people coming to faith. He desires that they would grow spiritually. Consequently, our part in God’s mission isn’t just to help people make a connection to Him but also to help them become spiritually mature.
Making Jesus’ mission our own means asking God to help us see the people around us as He does. It compels us to pray for the people in our lives who don’t know Him, that God would open their spiritual eyes to His truth. Embracing Jesus’ mission pushes us beyond our comfort zone to share what Jesus has done in our lives, engage people in spiritual conversations, invite them to church with us, and walk alongside them in their spiritual journey.
Living on mission means we are willing to sacrifice our short-term comfort for the greater prize of seeing more people get adopted as children of God and grow in their relationship with Him. God’s the only one that can change a human heart, but joining in Jesus’ mission means we’re always looking and praying for opportunities to be a conduit through which God’s love and truth can be experienced.
So, we hope you’ll ask God daily to show you how you can point people to Him through your actions, words, and resources. The apostle Paul exhorts us to make the most of every opportunity, so let’s live on mission, so we always keep the main thing the main thing.
Resources to help you grow in Disciple-making:
📄 Article: How to Prepare Your Personal Testimony
Sharing how you came to know God personally is one of the most powerful ways you can help friends grasp how much God loves us. This resource outlines the power of your story and how you can share Christ with others in an authentic way.
👐 Video: The B.L.E.S.S. method for sharing your faith
5 simple everyday practices Jesus used to love others. They are so simple anyone can do it and so powerful it might just change our world!
📕 E-book Download: Discipleship 101
A short e-book covering the topics: What does discipleship look like in everyday life? What’s a good approach for inviting someone to follow Jesus with you? What does it look like to pray with someone? How do you study the Bible with someone?
🔗 Collection: Resources explaining the Christian faith provided by Dr. William Lane Craig and Reasonable Faith
Reasonable Faith provides an articulate, intelligent, yet gracious defense of the Christian faith in the public arena. They do this through an extensive collection of articles, videos, and podcasts, that enable Christians to converse with unbelievers and understand Christian truth claims with greater effectiveness.
📖 Reading Plan: Spiritual Disciplines & Evangelism
A 9-day guided Bible study plan. The spiritual disciplines serve a specific role in the Christian experience—they lead believers to become more like Jesus in our thoughts, words, and actions. How does this translate into our call to show & share the love of Jesus with others? This study is designed to help you grow in your own faith in such a way that it will overflow to others!
If these resources haven’t been helpful or you have a specific question, please email us at info@epic.church and we’d be glad to help you.