Congregation climate as a potential predictor of change readiness in uni-racial Christian churches adapting to become multiracial congregations

The purpose of the study was to extend previous research to gain a greater understanding of the usefulness of the Congregation Climate Scales (CCS) instrument as an organizational climate measurement tool as a predictor of change readiness in churches adapting to become multiracial congregations. An organizational climate study was conducted using a web-based survey to ascertain if there was evidence of significant differences between a uni-racial church congregation and a multiracial church congregation. Three uni-racial congregations were compared to two multiracial congregations using the five dimensions with the CCS instrument. Four hypotheses were tested. The results indicated (a) that the Congregation Climate Scales could be used to measure change readiness, (b) no significant differences existed between uni-racial and multi-racial congregations in terms of openness to change, activity, organization and clarity, stability, and sense of community, (c) a significant differences between multiracial and uni-racial church congregation in terms of how their own climates related to the attributes of the institution, and (d) a significant difference existed between multiracial and uni-racial church congregations and how they related to the attributes of the members.