When I lived in Chicago, I used to attend a small church where we worshiped in a rented building that seemed far too big for the 20 or 30 of us in the congregation. There we would gather in the front, filling four or five pews and leaving about 80% of the building unoccupied.
As a prayer counselor, I would retreat to the back of the sanctuary and watch as the rest of the worshipers sang the final song. When no one would come to me for prayer, I got to observe what I believe to be a beautiful picture of the church as the body of Christ. In the front rows of the sanctuary, standing in one group, very different people joined together in the same place to worship the same God with the same mind, heart, and spirit. There in our small corner of the world, a community of individuals became united by one important thing: our faith in Christ.
In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul affirms this picture when he describes the church as a complete and thriving body, made up of unique parts all working together in unison.