Learn about our Ministry
Our ministry is built around direct experience, travel, immersion, and active participation in the kind of study that asks something of you. Not your online agreement. Your presence.
The world is the classroom. The people in it, the places, the friction of being somewhere unfamiliar and having to figure out what you actually think, that is the curriculum. You cannot get that from a screen. You cannot download it. You have to go.
Ministry here means showing up. It means being in the room, on the road, in the conversation. It means letting genuine experience do what no course ever could.
From ordination to outreach
Based in Albany, New York, our ministry is anchored at the Niskayuna Sweat Lodge, a structure built by hand, with purpose, and with the kind of intention this whole thing is about. It is where the work happens.
Where people show up and experience ministry firsthand, not as an idea but as a physical, present reality.
John Rudat
Minister
John currently leads all Formation programs within COSOS personally. Every student in Formation I, II, and III works with him directly.
Formation I - Beginning the Path
Formation I is where the work starts. An introduction to the COSOS framework, the core teachings, and what it means to live sovereignly. Open to anyone ready to engage seriously with who they are and how they move through the world. No prior experience necessary — just a genuine intention to begin.
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Format: Self-Guided with Ministerial Check-ins
​​Duration: 6 Months
Annika G, GER
Starting the formation program by COSOS has truly changed my outlook on life and all it is comprised of.
Through the program I was able to access an increasingly profound way of thinking which is continuously becoming more nuanced as I move along.
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The things you will learn not only about the world but particularly about yourself will assist and guide you in every experience you have, every decision you make and everything you encounter along your path.
Hazel W, CT
I came in with an open mind and years of questions nobody had ever been able to answer. I had tried other things. Nothing stuck. Nothing felt real enough to stay with.
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John met me exactly where I was. No pressure, no agenda — just genuine attention to what I was actually carrying and where I actually was. That was new for me. It changed the dynamic from the start.
Since beginning Formation I, things have shifted in ways I am still catching up to. I feel stronger. More certain of myself. More independent in how I think and how I move through my life.
Leandrea T, MA
Although I didn't participate in Formation, John and his students were part of one of the most healing experiences I have had in a long time.
I came in carrying a lot. The weight of building something from nothing — my daycare school — while trying to do it the right way, with no real roadmap and no one who truly understood what I was up against.
What I found at COSOS was not just guidance. It was genuine care from people who took my situation seriously and gave their time without hesitation.