Appeals lacking involvement from church members (4)
I believe the answer is:
arms
'members' is the definition.
(arm is a kind of member)
'appeals lacking involvement from church' is the wordplay.
'appeals' becomes 'charms' ('charm' can be a synonym of 'appeal').
'lacking involvement from' is a deletion indicator.
'church' becomes 'ch' (common abbreviation).
'charms' with 'ch' taken out is 'ARMS'.
(Other definitions for arms that I've seen before include "See 11" , "Supplies weapons" , "Blazonry; weaponry" , "See 12" , "Weapons, collectively" .)