CONGREGATION CLIMATE SCALES

Abstract

The Congregation Climate Scales (CCS) are psychometric instruments designed to quantify the psychosocial climate of religious institutions, specifically churches and synagogues. This climate is conceptualized as the “personality” of the faith community, representing the psychologically meaningful perceptions members hold regarding their institution (Pargament et al., 1983). Initially developed with ten dimensions, the revised CCS focuses on five core dimensions: Openness to Change, Activity, Stability, Organization and Clarity, and Sense of Community.

The instrument utilizes a 5-point Likert-type scale, asking respondents to rate how accurately various statements describe their congregation. The scales were developed through extensive literature review, institutional visits, and structured interviews with clergy and members across Christian and Jewish settings, ensuring broad applicability and grounding in organizational and religious contexts.

Keywords

Congregation Climate Scales, Psychosocial Climate, Religious Organizations, Church Assessment, Sense of Community, Organizational Climate, Religiosity, Scale Development.

Authors

K. I. Pargament, W. Silverman, S. Johnson, R. Echemendia, S. Snyder.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Congregation Climate Scales (CCS) is to provide a standardized, empirical measure of the psychosocial environment within religious institutions. By assessing specific dimensions of congregational “personality,” the scales offer a detailed profile that can be used for research and practical application, such as organizational development or consultation.

The CCS aims to identify areas of strength and weakness within a congregation. Since there is no “ideal” score, absolute scores are used for interpretation: higher scores generally indicate a more positive climate, while lower scores highlight aspects of the congregational environment that may require improvement or intervention.

Construct

The CCS measures the construct of congregation climate, defined as the “psychologically meaningful representations of the church/synagogue.” This construct is rooted in climate theory, which posits that environments possess distinct climates that are products of both environmental and individual characteristics.

The theory assumes a reciprocal influence: the climate shapes the individuals within the setting, and individuals, in turn, influence the climate. The original conceptualization identified ten dimensions, but the finalized, revised scales concentrate on five critical, measurable factors of the congregational environment, each consisting of ten items:

• Openness to Change
• Activity
• Stability
• Organization and Clarity
• Sense of Community

Validity

The construct validity and predictive validity of the CCS were examined by testing three primary hypotheses regarding congregational climate.

First, the scales demonstrated strong ability to discriminate between different congregations. Statistical analysis showed that the CCS significantly distinguished among members of the thirteen test churches, F(120, 2470) = 6.67, p < .001, accounting for 97% of the variance in differences among members. Univariate F tests confirmed that all scales were significantly discriminating, with Activity, Stability, Sense of Community, and Openness to Change being the most discriminating factors. Homogeneity coefficients indicated that members within a specific congregation share similar perceptions of their church’s climate.

Second, the CCS related significantly to various institutional attributes. A multivariate analysis was significant, showing that the CCS could effectively differentiate congregations based on factors such as racial composition, religious identification, and size. The scales accounted for a moderately high amount of variance (η² = .81) concerning these attributes.

Finally, the CCS was shown to be a significant predictor of individual member characteristics, including religiosity (R² range .22 to .37), congregation satisfaction (R² range .10 to .39), and competence. The relationship patterns varied by scale; for instance, Stability and Openness to Change positively correlated with member satisfaction, while Sense of Community was positively related to all three individual attributes. In summary, the CCS provides a valid assessment tool that accurately differentiates between congregations and correlates reliably with both institutional and individual characteristics.

Reliability

The reliability of the CCS was assessed using measures of internal consistency and stability over time.

Initial internal consistency estimates, measured by Cronbach’s alpha coefficients, were moderate to moderately high across all original scales, ranging from .69 (Intrinsic Religious Orientation) to .83 (Sense of Community). Following revision, which reduced the scale set from ten to five dimensions, the internal consistency improved or remained robust, yielding the following coefficient alphas for the final five scales:

• Openness to Change: .76
• Order/Clarity: .72
• Sense of Community: .78
• Activity: .77
• Stability: .76

Scale stability was evaluated using test-retest reliability on a subsample (n = 25) over approximately one month. These reliabilities were deemed acceptable, ranging from .57 (Expressiveness and Autonomy) to .89 (Order/Clarity). Furthermore, intercorrelations among the scales were low to moderately high (range .02 to .58), suggesting that while some shared variance exists, the dimensions are largely distinct constructs, confirming the overall reliability of the measure.

Factor Analysis

Although an explicit formal exploratory or confirmatory factor analysis is not detailed in the source, the scale development process involved implicit factor refinement resulting in a significant structural revision. The authors initially identified ten dimensions, developing fifteen items for each. However, due to observed theoretical overlap and statistical review (suggested by intercorrelations ranging up to .58), five original scales—Expressiveness, Social Concern, Autonomy, Intrinsic Religious Orientation, and Extrinsic Religious Orientation—were dropped from the final instrument.

The remaining five dimensions (Openness to Change, Activity, Stability, Organization and Clarity, and Sense of Community) were retained and refined to consist of ten items each. This revision process, guided by empirical results and theoretical clarity, resulted in scales with consistently moderately high Cronbach’s alpha values, indicating a strong, internally consistent five-factor structure for the revised CCS.

Instrument

Test Type:

Organizational/Community Psychology Scale

Format:

Self-report questionnaire using a 5-point Likert-type scale.

Language Available:

English (original documentation)

Population Group:

Members and clergy of religious congregations (Christian and Jewish).

Age Group:

Adults (Average age of norming sample was 44 years).

Population Details:

Normed on 13 Christian congregations, diverse in size (100 to 6,200 members), racial composition (4 black, 9 white), and denomination (e.g., Baptist, Roman Catholic, African Methodist Evangelical). The total sample included 352 members and 13 clergy.

Test Methodology:

Respondents rate statements on a 5-point scale (1 = not at all descriptive to 5 = completely descriptive). Scoring involves reverse coding negatively worded items and computing the mean score for each dimension.

Keywords

Psychometric Scale, Religious Climate, Church Assessment, Congregations, Organizational Health, Pargament, Openness to Change, Stability, Likert Scale.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier:

Not provided in source material.

Affiliation Email addresses:

Not provided in source material.

Correspondence Address:

Correspondence would typically be directed to Bowling Green State University, where the manual was initially developed.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Test Year:

The original conceptualization and publication occurred in 1983 (Pargament et al., 1983).

Permissions and Fees:

Information regarding current permissions or fees for clinical or academic use is not detailed in the source material. The original manual was an unpublished manuscript from Bowling Green State University.

Reference’s

Pargament, K. I., Silverman, W., Johnson, S., Echemendia, R., & Snyder, S. (1983). The psychosocial climate of religious congregations. American Journal of Community Psychology, 11, 351-381.

Silverman, M. K., Pargament, K. I., & Falgout, K. C. (1983). The congregation development program manual. Unpublished Manuscript, Bowling Green State University.

Pargament, K. I., Echemendia, R. J., Johnson, S., Cook, P., McGath, C., Myers, J. G., & Brannick, M. (1987). The conservative church: Psychosocial advantages and disadvantages. American Journal of Community Psychology, 15, 269-286.

Pargament, K. I., Falgout, K., Ensing, D. S., Reilly, B., Silverman, M., Van Haitsma, K., Olsen, H., & Warren, R. (1991). The congregation development program: Data-based consultation with churches and synagogues. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 22, 393-404.

Pargament, K. I., Johnson, S. M., Echemendia, R. J., & Silverman, W. H. (1985). The limits of fit: Examining the implications of person-environment congruence within different religious settings. Journal of Community Psychology, 13, 20-30.

Items of the CONGREGATION CLIMATE SCALES

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

Instructions: The following statements have to do with the climate or unique personality of your church. Each statement may be more or less descriptive of your congregation. Please:

1. Read each statement carefully.
2. Think about how descriptive you feel the statement is of your church.
3. Decide whether the statement is

• 1 = not at all descriptive
• 2 = somewhat descriptive
• 3 = pretty much descriptive
• 4 = very much descriptive
• 5 = completely descriptive

To the right of each statement is a row of five numbers. Please draw a circle around one of the five numbers to show how that statement describes your church.

Openness to Change

Think about how open the members, leaders, and ministers are to changes and new and different ideas in the church. Indicate how well each of the following statements describes openness to change and different ideas in your church.

Activity

Think about the variety of activities in the church and how much the members support these activities. Indicate how well each of the following statements describes the activities in your church.

Stability

Think about how secure and stable your church is as an organization. Indicate how well each of the following statements describes the stability in your church.

Organization and Clarity

Think about how well the church organizes its activities and decisions. Also, think about how clearly the church communicates to the members. Indicate how well each of the following statements describes the organization and clarity in your church.

Sense of Community

Think about the closeness, fellowship, and support that members of your church show for each other. Indicate how well each of the following statements describes the sense of community in your church.

(R) = reverse code