I’ve just landed in Chicago from Amsterdam, where I spoke to the inaugural conference of TGC Netherlands/Flanders about church after COVID-19. Of course we’re still in the midst of this terrible pandemic. But we can still begin to shape the church’s response to this disruption, only surpassed in world history by the 14th-century Black Plague.

In Amsterdam we celebrated the Dutch translation of my new book, Rediscover Church: Why the Body of Christ Is Essential, written with Jonathan Leeman and published with Crossway, 9Marks, and TGC. I met with a wonderfully encouraging Dutch brother named Marcel Vroegop, who’s coordinating online access to 20 total language translations. This challenge for the church demands a global response, and I’m grateful for the generosity of Crossway and 9Marks to join TGC in this groundbreaking publishing venture.

In this week’s Gospelbound podcast I’m joined by my friend and co-author Jonathan Leeman to talk about how this book came together and how we hope to help church leaders re-gather their flock. Sometimes crisis prompts us to focus on what’s most important. And that’s what we’ve tried to do with this overview ecclesiology aimed at young and new church members.

As I wrote this summer for The New York Times, Christian must not forsake the assembly—even if we’re outside, even if we’re still wearing masks. I grieved with the leaders of an African fellowship in Amsterdam as they explained how many church members have not yet returned. I could have stayed in the United States and preached over Zoom. But God created us to worship him with our bodies, together, as the sisters with their cymbals reminded me this weekend. They ministered to me in their enthusiastic singing, as I rejoiced in this glimpse of our eternal future.