Our blog, The Cripplegate, takes its name from the “morning exercises” some of the puritans led when they were locked out of their churches in the 1660’s. Then, the government banned ministers from peaching if they were not ordained by the Church of England, and if they did not agree to follow the liturgy of the Book of Common Prayer. As faithful pastors were banned by law from meeting in their churches, they took to London’s public gates, and met outside for the daily teaching and fellowship of believers.
This year society saw a similar shutdown, with government imposed closures of churches. When we started our blog in 2011 we certainly didn’t anticipate something like this, it is our hope that The Cripplegate gave our subscribers some measure of spiritual encouragement and instruction in this year of isolation.
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Here are our top 10 posts (by unique IP addresses to view it) from 2020.
9 Ways Christians Can respond differently to Coronavirus. George Lawson writes how the nature of hope should shape our response to COVID. He wrote this back in March, before people understood how long these shutdowns would last, and it has held up remarkably well.
“Be the Bridge”: A Review. Be the Bridge started as a book, but soon grew into an entire curriculum packet that gained popularity in many churches. Jesse Johnson reviewed it, and the world view around it, here.
RBG’s Dying Wish. After Supreme Court Justice RBG died, much was made of her dying wish–for a justice to come after her who would be named by someone other than President Trump. Clint Archer looked at her dying wish through the lens of Ecclesiastes.
5 Truths to Remember while the Police Station Burns. Back in May, at the heart of the stay-at-home orders, riots broke out as a result of the death of George Floyd in Minnesota. Jesse described 5 biblical truths to help us rightly think through the riots.
Why You Should Never Take the Mass. Jordan, who had recently returned to Italy as a church planter, writes a very helpful post about the theology behind the Catholic Mass. Drawing from diverse pastors such as David Platt and John Rogers, Jordan argues that mass denies the truth about regeneration, justification, and sanctification.
The Church Boy who Never Grew Up. After preaching through Psalm 127-128, Daron Roberts reflects on the character traits of men who never grow up, and how they lead to a life of disappointment and sin.
Overview of Critical Race Theory & Intersectionality. In addition to COVID, 2020 was also the year where critical race theory reached critical mass–it left the halls of universities and entered into business, churches, and everyday life. Despite being a dominate part of the secular world view, Eric Davis realized that many evangelicals were unfamiliar with CRT and the dangers it poses. He wrote this extended post to give us background on it, and prepare believers to interact with it.
America’s Newest Religion. A few months after writing the post above, Eric circled back to the issue of CRT and noted how it was quickly becoming America’s fastest growing religion. Not long after Eric published this post, President Trump signed an executive order banning CRT from all government agencies and contractors–now, we are not suggesting he reads The Cripplegate, but we are just saying that if he did, he must have shared it with his friends, because this was our blog’s third most read post of the year.
A Compassionate, Counter-Cultural Christian Response. In addition to riots, the death of George Floyd prompted a rather unique tension among believers. There was the sense that his death was unjust and indicative of larger societal problems, yet a reluctant to articulate that because of the wickedness of the riots. Kevin Huang wrote this post which powerfully captured how believers should navigate these tensions. This post was our most shared post of the year, and was our second most read post of the year.
A Biblical Analysis of the Black Lives Matter Organization. After the riots, the visibility of BLM in our nation sky-rocketed, as major corporations rushed to express their approval of them. After their largest event ever, a “trans-lives matter” march in New York City, people began to wonder what exactly this organization represented. Eric did a deep-dive into their publicly available ideological statements, and compiled an analysis of their beliefs. This post was our most read post of the year, and for a while was one of Google’s top hits when a person searched for BLM.
As always, if you have requests for something we should blog on, leave it in the comments below.
And, if you are curious, By the way, here are our lists from 2019, from 2018, from 2017, from 2016, from 2015, from 2014, from 2013, from 2012, and from our first year, 2011.