The Ministerium für Staatsicherheit, or Stasi, was the secret police agency of the German Democratic Republic from 1950 until its dissolution in 1990. While peaceful anti-communist demonstrations against the east German reigme took place in towns and cities across the state from 1989 to 1991, the invasive spying and disorientation tactics used by the Stasi meant there were significantly fewer possibilities for civil disobedience and direct action than political grassroots activists have today in Western Europe and North America. Nevertheless, political activists in East Germany managed to start a grassroots revolution in 1989, largely by organizing at Protestant Churches. This study investigates the surveillance of those Churches by the Stasi and the mobilization techniques that East German activists were able to employ with the Church as a resource. Focusing on the 1988-1990 time period, the combination of Stasi and Church archives, along with relevant scholarly articles of the mobilizing structures used by political activists, helps form a well-rounded study that contributes to social movement literature by underscoring the importance that central locations like Churches play in secrecy and political dissent.