Risked placing new church in country (7)
I believe the answer is:
chanced
'risked' is the definition.
('chance' can be a synonym of 'risk')
'new church in country' is the wordplay.
'new' becomes 'n' (common abbreviation eg NT for New Testament).
'church' becomes 'CE' (abbreviation for Church of England).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'country' becomes 'chad' (Chad is an example).
'n'+'ce'='nce'
'nce' put within 'chad' is 'CHANCED'.
'placing' acts as a link.
This may not be right. It may be part of another bit of the clue.
(Another definition for chanced that I've seen is " Happened".)