Manage to get work in church (4)
I believe the answer is:
cope
'manage' is the definition.
('cope' can be a synonym of 'manage')
'work in church' is the wordplay.
'work' becomes 'op' (abbreviation for opus).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'church' becomes 'ce' (abbreviation for Church of England).
'op' inserted into 'ce' is 'COPE'.
'to get' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for cope that I've seen before include "Manage, subsist" , "Deal effectively (with a difficulty)" , "Manage effectively" , "Clerical vestment; to deal (with)" , "loser of Prestonpans" .)