Devout church on about following lapse (7)
I believe the answer is:
sincere
'devout' is the definition.
('sincere' can be similar in meaning to 'devout')
'church on about following lapse' is the wordplay.
'church' becomes 'ce' (abbreviation for Church of England).
'on' becomes 're' ('on' can be mean 'with reference to').
'about' says to put letters next to each other.
'following lapse' becomes 'sin' (I've seen this in other clues. I am not sure about the 'following' bit.**).
'ce'+'re'='cere'
'cere' after 'sin' is 'SINCERE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for sincere that I've seen before include "devout" , "Honest, heartfelt" , "(Of person) genuine" , "Genuine and honest" , "Not hypocritical" .)