Character seen behind church pew (5)
I believe the answer is:
chair
'pew' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'character seen behind church' is the wordplay.
'character' becomes 'air' (air can mean a character or mood).
'seen behind' means one lot of letters go next to another (some letters go behind others).
'church' becomes 'ch' (common abbreviation).
'air' after 'ch' is 'CHAIR'.
(Other definitions for chair that I've seen before include "A committee's most important seat" , "Preside, guide meeting" , "Official position of authority" , "Lead" , "Professorship" .)