This fall, our church has been going through a process of transformation (previously explained here).  And as a part of this process, we've been using part of our weekly worship gatherings to take everyone through a sort of "workshop" experience -- where we try to practically sift through the possibilities for the future in smaller groups.  The first two weeks, we focused our attention on talking about "What is?" (specifically trying to figure out what our church's overall strengths and weaknesses might be).  The second two weeks, we've turned to talking about "What could be?" (creatively brainstorming possibilities for the future).  And after one more week of "What could be?" we're going to spend the rest of the calendar year talking about "What will be?"  It's been an interesting and enlightening process, and I trust that God is using it to develop us as individuals and as a church...

At any rate, I thought others might be interested to see the list of sub-cultures with which we're connected in Amsterdam.  We came up with this listing through our workshop session this past Sunday (the 27th of September). There were a total of 114 postings (albeit some of them repetitive)
on the back wall of the "sky box." In no particular order, here's the listing:

• Ridiculously good-looking people
• Squatters
• Dwaze Vaders
• Once-Legal, Now-Illegal
• Philosophy
• Film
• Weed Smokers
• Artists
• Young Professionals
• Students
• Internationals
• Atheists
• Computer Freaks
• Wannabe Writers
• Social Workers / Refugees
• Social Workers
• IT Professionals
• Singles
• Writers
• Younger Couples
• Dancers
• Foodies / Eaters
• (True) Rockers
• Knutselers
• Arty-Farty People II
• People who would like to form for Outreach on the Streets
• Performers
• Poets / Story-writers
• Young Couples
• Artists
• Joggers
• Arts & Media
• Artists
• Students
• Social Workers
• Muslims (Families, Women, Kids); Iranians / Moroccans / Turks
• Immigrants
• Nature Lover
• Teachers
• Photography
• Expats & Drifters
• Active in Social Justice
• Basketballers
• Broken Female Hearts
• Break-dancing
• The Elderly (Please organize Bridge nights for the older folks)
• Young (un)Professionals
• Active in Social Justice
• Students
• Musicians
• Skateboarding
• Moms
• Krakers
• Tennis
• Internet Discussions
• Prayers
• Cooks
• Music Lovers
• Painters
• Ultimate Frisbee-ers
• Computer Freaks
• Musicians
• Flora & Fauna
• Graffiti Artists
• Foreigners Married to Dutch People
• Zin-geving
• Airport Ministry
• Knutselaars
• Inburgerings Studenten
• Painters
• Tuinieren / Verfen
• The Lost
• Kids Camps
• Fitness
• Student
• Surfers
• Kunst- / Cultuur Liefhebbers
• Volunteers
• Travellers
• Singer
• Grachtengordel
• Social Justice
• Young Professionals
• (Ex-)Drug-Dealers & Users
• Philosophy / Source Students
• Muziek Liefhebbers
• Youth-Culture
• Speed-Charaders
• Homeless
• Church People
• Gamers
• Composers Music Arts
• Fashionistas
• Sporters
• Young Families / Young Mothers
• Young Families
• Teacher
• Dancers
• Over-Levenden
• Students
• Young Professionals
• Young Urban Professional
• Expatriates
• Children
• Crafty / Hands-on Stuff (Scrapbooking, Cooking, Refinishing Furniture, etc.)
• X-treme Sporters
• Poets
• Poker Players
• Artist
• Bob’s Youth Hostel
• Travellers
• Fighting Prostitution / Trafficking
• Musicians / Composers
• Music

It's cool to look at our potential points of interaction with each other and with others in the city.  I've done some playing around with the list, trying to create broader categories of the sub-cultures most heavily represented within our church.  But I'm curious: Does anyone see any particular patterns among those sub-cultures? Anyone want to take a stab at listing the top 10 categories of sub-cultures within Amsterdam50?

I'll share some of my observations later (Marc La Porte and I already did a bit of preliminary sorting, in preparation for this coming Sunday's workshop), but I thought it might be helpful to put it out there as a very open-ended question to start with -- and see if other interpretations of the listing might yield useful insights... Let me know what you think.