One counted on a god seeing sacrifice of Church (6)
I believe the answer is:
abacus
'church' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
I don't understand how the rest of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for abacus that I've seen before include "one counts on it" , "Counting-bead device" , "this adds up" , "What was counted on" , "frame of sorts" .)