Tootfinder

- Membership not associated with any other church or denomination
I'm just gonna throw this one away. Distinct membership in only one religious organization is a distinct property of western Christianity. It is not impossible within "Eastern" belief systems, for example, to simultaneously be a member of multiple faiths, and as such one could be a member of one or multiple other churches or denominations. Being both Buddhist and Christian, for example, is not necessarily strange *outside* of Christian supremacist societies.
But if you want your membership to be distinct, you do you. I'm not your dad. Probably. I mean, my kids aren't on social media yet and I don't know if they'll ever read this. But maybe I am your dad. I'm still not telling you what to do. Also, in that case, I love you.
Anyway, moving on.

Under US law, a "church" is only really defined by the IRS (as far as I'm aware). This definition lists 14 attributes, of which a church is expected to have 9. They are as follows:
- Distinct legal existence
- Recognized creed and form of worship
- Definite and distinct ecclesiastical government
- Formal code of doctrine and discipline
- Distinct religious history
- Membership not associated with any other church or denomination
- Organization of ordained ministers
- Ordained ministers selected after completing prescribed courses of study
- Literature of its own
- Established places of worship
- Regular congregations
- Regular religious services
- Sunday schools for the religious instruction of the young
- Schools for the preparation of its members
https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/churches-religious-organizations/definition-of-church
Let's talk about each one now, and a bit later we'll talk about examples of systems existing now and how they become essentially "out of band," "invisible," or otherwise "indecipherable" to the dominant system....

- Organization of ordained ministers
This can just overlap with your "ecclesiastical government" or just your membership. There are plenty of churches, even Christian ones, where the distinction is non-existent.
There is an expectation that "ordained ministers" go through some sort of process of learning. But anyone who's familiar with Evangelicalism knows how incredibly low that bar actually is.

Such exercises don't need to be grand though. They can be small. They can be for any domain. They can be organized by people with experience to help people who are new.
A simple scenario of "you're at a protest" can branch off into "you hear blast balls and smell tear gas," "you see someone with a gun," "you see someone injured by police," or "a kettle is forming." Games can allow people with experience to transfer information in a highly effective way, a way that lets new people leverage their knowledge immediately but without risk.
Other scenarios might be things like...
- Someone tells you that your organization has been infiltrated by a right wing agitator
- There's conflict between two members of your organization
- An organizer goes missing
What scenarios do you think activists and organizers should think about?