Notice vehicle by church making progress (7)
I believe the answer is:
advance
'progress' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'notice vehicle by church' is the wordplay.
'notice' becomes 'ad' (both can mean an advertisement).
'vehicle' becomes 'van' (type of vehicle).
'by' says to put letters next to each other.
'church' becomes 'CE' (abbreviation for Church of England).
'ad'+'van'+'ce'='ADVANCE'
'making' is the link.
(Other definitions for advance that I've seen before include "Proceed" , "Make headway" , "Move forward like army or loan against wage" , "Move forward to get loan?" , "Go ahead - make a loan" .)