The interiority of spiritual identity

Abstract

This research is based on the premise that some existing Christian churches or other related buildings do not always adequately serve the contemporary needs and provide programmes for primarily the young people that occupy them wanting to serve in the Christian Ministry in Wellington. This research will focus on the importance of creating a personal spiritual identity through interior architecture in preparation for service in the Christian ministry. As such, the needs for being prepared to enter the service of the church will be briefly examined through the programmes of education and counselling within the context of spiritual experience.

This research will examine the role of interior architecture in creating spaces for equipping young Christians for serving in the Ministry for both the pragmatic aspect of education and the mystery of spiritual identity. Academic Joesph Pavlinak proposes in “Non-Formal Education as a Tool to Equip and Develop a Team” that it “takes more to equipping individuals by developing the mind, but it also takes the development of the person as a whole for Christian ministry.” The intent of the design intervention is to enhance, strengthen and nurture the development of one’s “spiritual identity”.

This thesis will directly address the influence that interior architecture has in adjusting existing spiritual and educational spaces to respond to the changing of programmes and needs of the Christian church in the twenty-first century within the realms of spiritual education and counselling.