From what I've read about it, it seems more like a psychotherapy pyramid scheme. The religion stuff was thrown in as an afterthought to get tax-exempt status.
You spend thousands of dollars to be "cured" of your problems. When you have taken enough courses, you can then learn to "cure" others of their problems for a nice fee. Of course, only the top of the pyramid actually makes any money.
Actually, I thought Hubbard added the religion stuff to his psychotherapy pyramid scheme because religion was where the money was. Thus, he turned it into a religion. THere may have been a bet with Heinlein, too.