Elders half accept church section has fallen away (7)
I believe the answer is:
elapsed
'fallen away' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both to do with motion as well as being past participle verbs.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'elders half accept church section' is the wordplay.
'half' indicates taking half.
'accept' is an insertion indicator.
'church section' becomes 'apse' (I've seen this in another clue).
'elders' cut in half is 'eld'.
'eld' going around 'apse' is 'ELAPSED'.
'has' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for elapsed that I've seen before include "Pleased (anag.)" , "slipped away" , "Pleased to have passed" , "Went by" , "Expired" .)