Dissenter of Church rising in turn as converted (8)
I believe the answer is:
recusant
'dissenter' is the definition.
(recusant is a kind of dissenter)
'church rising in turn as converted' is the wordplay.
'church' becomes 'ce' (abbreviation for Church of England).
'rising' shows that the letters should be reversed in order (going up in a down clue).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'converted' indicates anagramming the letters.
'ce' backwards is 'ec'.
'turn'+'as'='turnas'
'turnas' with letters rearranged gives 'rusant'.
'ec' put within 'rusant' is 'RECUSANT'.
'of' is the link.
(Other definitions for recusant that I've seen before include "Dissenting" , "not submitting to authority" , "One refusing to comply, submit" , "A rebel against authority - could be Etruscan" , "One who will not submit to authority" .)