Joy in church always (5)
I believe the answer is:
cheer
'joy' is the definition.
(cheering is a kind of joying)
'church always' is the wordplay.
'church' becomes 'ch' (common abbreviation).
'always' becomes 'eer' (poetic way of saying ever).
'ch'+'eer'='CHEER'
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for cheer that I've seen before include "Inspirit" , "Buck up" , "Urge on" , "Applaud and acclaim" , "Shout of approval" .)