It faces backwards in an old church in ancient city (7)
I believe the answer is:
antioch
'ancient city' is the definition.
(ancient Greek city)
'it faces backwards in an old church' is the wordplay.
'faces backwards' says the letters should be written in reverse (I've seen 'facing backwards' mean this).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'old' becomes 'o' (common abbreviation eg in OE for Old English).
'church' becomes 'ch' (common abbreviation).
'it' in reverse letter order is 'ti'.
'an'+'o'='ano'
'ti' inserted into 'ano' is 'antio'.
'antio'+'ch'='ANTIOCH'
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for antioch that I've seen before include "early Christian centre" , "Early centre of Christianity" , "Ancient name for Antakya in Turkey" , "Ancient city now Antakya" , "Ancient Syria capital" .)