Scout in play area by church (5)
I believe the answer is:
recce
'scout' is the definition.
(short for reconnoitre ie to scout out)
'play area by church' is the wordplay.
'play area' becomes 'rec' (short for recreation ground).
'by' says to put letters next to each other.
'church' becomes 'ce' (Church of England).
'rec'+'ce'='RECCE'
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for recce that I've seen before include "Preliminary investigation" , "Reconnaissance" , "Mil. survey" , "Survey to obtain information" , "Military survey" .)