A piece of land possessed by the church (5)
I believe the answer is:
aisle
'land possessed by the church' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'a piece' is the wordplay.
'piece' becomes 'isle' (I have seen 'Piece of land' mean 'isle' so perhaps 'piece' could also mean 'isle').
'a'+'isle'='AISLE'
'of' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for aisle that I've seen before include "Passage between seating areas" , "Passageway between pews" , "Passages between seating areas" , "The way to get married in church?" , "Path between seats in church" .)