Church left notes for star, briefly (5)
I believe the answer is:
celeb
'star briefly' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'church left notes' is the wordplay.
'church' becomes 'CE' (abbreviation for Church of England).
'left' becomes 'l' (common abbreviation).
'notes' becomes 'eb' ().
'ce'+'l'+'eb'='CELEB'
'for' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for celeb that I've seen before include "Big name" , "popular star" , "Famous person (abbr)" , "Prominent figure" , "Famous person (sl.)" .)