Man takes church position (6)
I believe the answer is:
stance
'position' is the definition.
(I know that stance is a type of position)
'man takes church' is the wordplay.
'man' becomes 'stan' ().
'takes' says to put letters next to each other.
'church' becomes 'ce' (abbreviation for Church of England).
'stan'+'ce'='STANCE'
(Other definitions for stance that I've seen before include "One's physical or mental attitude" , "Position or attitude taken" , "Attitude (of body, mind)" , "policy" , "Posture; point of view" .)