Choose to delay opening service? Stand in church (7)
I believe the answer is:
lectern
'stand in church' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'choose to delay opening service?' is the wordplay.
'choose' becomes 'elect' (electing is a kind of choosing).
'to delay opening' means to remove the first letter.
'service?' becomes 'ern' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'elect' with its first letter taken away is 'lect'.
'lect'+'ern'='LECTERN'
(Other definitions for lectern that I've seen before include "Orator's stand" , "Speaking stand" , "Church reading desk" , "Slanted stand for a book" , "Support for bible in church" .)