About to burn church study (8)
I believe the answer is:
research
'study' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'about to burn church' is the wordplay.
'about' becomes 're' (regarding).
'to burn' becomes 'sear' (sear can mean to burn).
'church' becomes 'ch' (common abbreviation).
're'+'sear'+'ch'='RESEARCH'
(Other definitions for research that I've seen before include "Systematic investigation to establish facts" , "Scientific study" , "Investigation designed to expand knowledge" , "Look into" , "Scientific investigation" .)