Growing need for a six-footer to go to church (5)
I believe the answer is:
beech
'growing need' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot see how they can define each other.
'six-footer to go to church' is the wordplay.
'six footer' becomes 'bee' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'to go to' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'church' becomes 'ch' (common abbreviation).
'bee'+'ch'='BEECH'
'for a' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for beech that I've seen before include "Common forest tree" , "Tree of Fagus genus" , "Copper or silver tree" , "Common deciduous tree" , "for mast?" .)