Sub Cultural

Good old wykepedia, I was looking at this today:

A subculture is a set of people with distinct sets of behaviour and beliefs that differentiate them from a larger culture of which they are a part.

The subculture may be distinctive because of the age of its members, or by their race, ethnicity, class and/or gender, and the qualities that determine a subculture as distinct may be aesthetic, religious, occupational, political, sexual or a combination of these factors.

As early as 1950 David Riesman distinguished between a majority, "which passively accepted commercially provided styles and meanings, and a 'subculture' which actively sought a minority style...and interpreted it in accordance with subversive values" (Middleton 1990).

In other words, subcultures are groups of individuals who, through a variety of methods, present themselves in opposition to the mainstream trends of their culture. If the subculture is characterized by a systematic opposition to the dominant culture, then it may be described as a counterculture.

Can the church mount systematic opposition to the dominant culture of the western world?

Are we counter cultural enough?

I want to explore this more.

How much does culture shape church? does it matter?