Gait of the old man going to church (4)
I believe the answer is:
pace
'gait' is the definition.
('pace' can be a synonym of 'gait')
'the old man going to church' is the wordplay.
'the old man' becomes 'pa' ('pa' can be a synonym of 'old man'**).
'going to' says to put letters next to each other.
'church' becomes 'ce' (abbreviation for Church of England).
'pa'+'ce'='PACE'
'of' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for pace that I've seen before include "With the leave of; speed" , "a certain distance" , "Clip" , "Tempo, rate of moving" , "Part of step" .)