Study feature of church scheme (8)
I believe the answer is:
conspire
'scheme' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'study feature of church' is the wordplay.
'study' becomes 'con' (con can informally mean to study).
'feature of church' becomes 'spire' (part of a church building).
'con'+'spire'='CONSPIRE'
(Other definitions for conspire that I've seen before include "Act secretly with others" , "implicated in plot" , "So prince is given to plan secretly with others" , "scheme" , "Secretly plan together" .)