Why
During a 2025 gathering bringing together monastics, new monastics and intentional Christian community members, there was unanimous recognition of the need for more “on-ramps” to monastic/intentional Christian community forms of life. COWL exists to be such an on-ramp, increasing access to monastic and intentional Christian forms of life, and providing frameworks of support and formation as people discern how they are called to live.
How
A $15,000 grant from the Forum for Theological Education is providing the necessary funds to start piloting COWL.
Please contact us at cowlmovement@gmail.com if you are interested in supporting COWL’s development.
When
This 2026-27 academic year, a COWL campus society is being piloted at Earlham College, Indiana, marking the transition from COWL as an idea into COWL as a program.
Starting in 2027, COWL will commence facilitating COWL encounters, conferences and spiritual friendships.
Who
COWL is being pioneered by Demarius Walker and his wife Lakshmi Piette Walker.
Demarius and Lakshmi were both immersed in monastic/intentional Christian communities from their early 20s – an immersion which proved to be spiritually transformative. They now seek to help others access these ways of life, that they too might experience the transformative love of God there.
Demarius is currently training to be a priest in the Episcopal Church and holds an MA in Christian Spirituality from Virginia Theological Seminary and a Master of Arts in Peace and Social Transformation from the Earlham School of Religion.
Lakshmi is host of the Dwelling Place podcast and blog which brings together reflections from a number of different intentional Christian communities. She is also author of the book Dwelling Places: The Practice and Witness of Intentional Christian Communities and holds a Master of Divinity from the Earlham School of Religion.
