Faith managed to keep priest in church (8)

I believe the answer is:

reliance

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'faith' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'managed to keep priest in church' is the wordplay.
'managed' becomes 'ran' (both can mean organised or was in charge of).
'to keep' is an insertion indicator.
'priest' becomes 'eli' (biblical figure).
'in church' becomes 'ce' (abbreviation for Church of England. I am not sure about the 'in' bit.).
'ran' placed around 'eli' is 'relian'.
'relian'+'ce'='RELIANCE'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for reliance that I've seen before include "Dependence, trust" , "Trust - in cereal (anag)" , "Banking" , "Dependence (on something)" , "Faith" .)

I've seen this clue in The Sunday Times and The Times.

Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.