Nick needs New and Old Testament before church (5)
I believe the answer is:
notch
'nick' is the definition.
('notch' can be a synonym of 'nick')
'new and old testament before church' is the wordplay.
'new' becomes 'n'.
'and' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'old testament' becomes 'ot'.
'before' says to put letters next to each other.
'church' becomes 'ch' (common abbreviation).
'n'+'ot'+'ch'='NOTCH'
'needs' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for notch that I've seen before include "Cleft" , "small score?" , "Nick made in something as a record" , "Nick - incision" , "Point or degree in a scale" .)