A way into church offering social status (5)
I believe the answer is:
caste
'social status' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'a way into church' is the wordplay.
'way' becomes 'st'.
'into' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'church' becomes 'ce' (abbreviation for Church of England).
'a'+'st'='ast'
'ast' put into 'ce' is 'CASTE'.
'offering' is the link.
(Other definitions for caste that I've seen before include "Social class in India" , "Hereditary social class in Hindu society" , "place in society" , "Group within society" , "Social class or rank" .)