Nick turned to new church (5)
I believe the answer is:
notch
'nick' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'turned to new church' is the wordplay.
'turned' says the letters should be written backwards.
'new' becomes 'n' (common abbreviation eg NT for New Testament).
'church' becomes 'ch' (common abbreviation).
'to'+'n'='ton'
'ton' reversed gives 'not'.
'not'+'ch'='NOTCH'
(Other definitions for notch that I've seen before include "Indentation, nick" , "Salad plant, garnish" , "Cleft" , "V-shaped incision" , "Mark indented in wood etc" .)