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My article posted earlier this week alludes to how many Christian organizations are grasping new technologies as a way to boost their ministry. I think it’s a new idea for many Jewish organizations, which I report are slower to cotton on to technology.

I came across this post on Church Marketing Sucks (a blog with a lot of good advice), which I think outlines the way many churches think of themselves. It’s called What Every Non-profit Can Learn From a For-profit (here’s the PowerPoint slide show), but it’s a Christian camp company.

Some might find it a capitalistic view of growing a ministry, but this presentation still represents a forward and growing way of thinking. Some interesting thoughts about how to use business principles in a spiritual setting.

If you have some extra reading time, check out this article from PBS called “Church 2.0: Does a Congregation Know More Than the Pastor?” from the great MediaShift blog. Excellent view on how churches are grasping Web 2.0 technologies.

I just submitted my article to The Jewish Daily Forward on how Jewish nonprofits are faring with Web 2.0 technology. The short answer: they’ve got some catching up to do.

An interesting idea came up during my research. I was asking Rabbi Hayim Herring from STAR (Synagogues: Transformation and Renewal) if he had thoughts about why Jewish philanthropies are slow to jump on the Web 2.0 bandwagon, especially when some Christian organizations are maybe better thought of as Church 2.0.

He said, “Historically, we are a people of the book. We are not a people of the byte.”

Do you think Jewish organizations are slow to pick up on technology because they’ve got their noses in books? What’s your take?

You can read my entire article in the Forward’s special issue on Giving on June 20.