A few weeks ago some of us from the Philly Project team visited Eastern State Penitentiary. This historic prison is located in the middle of one of our three focus neighborhoods in Philadelphia.
Eastern State was the first prison in United States history to attempt to reform prisoners rather than simply punish them. The goal was to make prisoners penitent, thus the name penitentiary.
The Quakers were instrumental in the philosophy behind the prison. They believed that the heart of every person was good. So if a criminal spent enough time in deep introspection he would eventually confront the evil in his actions and desire to change.
In an effort to force that introspection, the prison took solitary confinement to an extreme level. Prisoners were by themselves 23 hours a day! Furthermore, when they were allowed to spend a few minutes outside, they wore a mask so they couldn't see anyone else or be seen themselves.
As you might have guessed, this much intense solitary confinement didn't have the results that the well-meaning founders of the prison had intended. Instead, it caused some inmates to go crazy, and was eventually abandoned as too cruel a punishment.
Our time at Eastern State Penitentiary reminded me of the great lengths hundreds of politicians, reformers, activists, religious leaders, and philosophers have taken to change the human heart. Yet there's only one person who can effectively transform a person's heart.
Jesus Christ.
His passion to transform people in Philadelphia is why we're moving there to plant churches. Jesus has the power to do what no institution can do. And I believe his life-changing power will be experienced in Philly like never before!
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