Shrank back as gale enveloped church (6)
I believe the answer is:
winced
'shrank' is the definition.
('wince' can be a synonym of 'shrink')
'back as gale enveloped church' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'church' could be 'ce' (abbreviation for Church of England) and 'ce' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'wind' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for winced that I've seen before include "Grimaced slightly" , "Flinched, made a face" , "Made slight involuntary movement from pain or embarrassment" , "Flinched, cringed" .)