Church expert accepting new risk (6)
I believe the answer is:
chance
'risk' is the definition.
(chance is a kind of risk)
'church expert accepting new' is the wordplay.
'church' becomes 'ch' (abbreviation on maps etc).
'expert' becomes 'ace' (ace can informally mean very good).
'accepting' indicates putting letters inside (inserted letters are accepted).
'new' becomes 'n' (common abbreviation eg NT for New Testament).
'ace' placed around 'n' is 'ance'.
'ch'+'ance'='CHANCE'
(Other definitions for chance that I've seen before include "Possibility - opportunity" , "Fortune, hazard" , "part of Monopoly" , "The unpredictable element of existence" , "Run a risk" .)