Situation like this limiting church and state in turn (8)
I believe the answer is:
scenario
'situation' is the definition.
(a scenario is a particular situation or outcome)
'this limiting church and state in turn' is the wordplay.
'this limiting' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'church' becomes 'ce' (abbreviation for Church of England).
'and' becomes 'n' (common abbreviation for 'and').
'state' becomes 'SA' (South Australia).
'in turn' becomes 'rio' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'ce'+'n'='cen'
'cen' placed within 'sa' is 'scena'.
'scena'+'rio'='SCENARIO'
'like' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for scenario that I've seen before include "Outline or synopsis of a play" , "Suggested plan of action" , "Outline -- setting for a novel" , "Outline of dramatic work" , "Summary of plot of play" .)