It is also recommended that you have a monthly newsletter and that you advertise your meetings locally. The minister you ordain can perform the sacraments of your church such as weddings, etc. Your church can own property and vehicles for the furtherance of its religious purpose. For example, many churches not only own buildings for religious worship but they also own religious retreat centers. Most of this property is also exempt from property tax under state law.
Most states also allow sales tax exemption to churches.
Under Internal Revenue Code Section 7611, the IRS is required to follow special audit procedures when they audit a church. It has been my experience that they make a great deal of mistakes in their procedures. The IRS has a 14-point plan that they use to determine if a church really is a church. We can discuss that issue in subsequent conversations, but generally, your church would have to be involved in religious activity and could not be set up for inurement. That means that you could not give money to private individuals except as compensation for their services.