First and foremost, you need an ideological framework for the leveraging of some strong emotion(s) like guilt, fear, love, etc. The most successful will leverage the full range of emotion. I'm sure you're familiar with the concepts of fear of torturous afterlife, guilt by way of (original) sin and unconditional love.
Next you need a monetization strategy. Guilt folks into paying, mandate it by (un)holy decree, withhold valuable information until payment, etc. Spiritual rewards, favored positions, etc. can be granted for donations of time and/or service, esp. evangelizing.
Knowledge is power, so laying ones' deepest secrets bare is needed in some capacity to get dirt, and prevent dissent via shame (and release).
The cycle of emotional pressure and release should be maintained and engineered such that each emotion takes central focus in turn through ritual and natural tendencies given the spiritual environment you construct.
Fellowship is key to creating a "trusted" inner circle, and to the control of follower sex lives (desire is a powerful emotion to harness).
Use of both positive and negative reinforcement (the latter explained here
>>434 ) is better than primarily focusing on one side of the spectrum.
See: Scientology and Catholicism which both fit the above.