At church, always, it may have a leader (5)
I believe the answer is:
cheer
'it may have a leader' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'at church always' is the wordplay.
'at' says to put letters next to each other.
'church' becomes 'ch' (common abbreviation).
'always' becomes 'eer' (poetic way of saying ever).
'ch' next to 'eer' is 'CHEER'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for cheer that I've seen before include "Inspirit" , "Buck up" , "Root" , "Encourage - applaud" , "Shout applause and support" .)