Liberal changing recent stand in church (7)
I believe the answer is:
lectern
'stand in church' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'liberal changing recent' is the wordplay.
'liberal' becomes 'l' (abbreviation).
'changing' indicates anagramming the letters.
'recent' with letters rearranged gives 'ectern'.
'l'+'ectern'='LECTERN'
(Other definitions for lectern that I've seen before include "Slanted stand for a book" , "Stand with sloping top for notes, for priest or lecturer" , "From which speaker delivers" , "Church reading desk" , "Desk or stand with a slanted top used to hold text" .)