Bed Bath And The Great Beyond: What Can Dying Churches Learn?

Bed Bath and Beyond has gone to the Hereafter. But is there an afterlife for dying churches? What can we learn from the bankrupt megastore?

Bed in the Clouds — Photo by Mo Eid on Pexels

The Death of Bed Bath and Beyond

By now, you’ve heard that megastore Bed Bath and Beyond (BBBY) has gone belly-up. According to financial and news sources, there were several factors that led to its bankruptcy:

Becoming a Category-Killer. On Knowledge at Wharton, Angie Basiouny writes: “Their whole core concept of ‘killing a category’ with a magical combination of more choice, lower price was usurped by e-commerce.” This made the megastore an early innovator.
Failure to Adapt. As e-commerce companies like Amazon took over the market, BBBY continued to focus its attention on its brick-and-mortar stores. Jordyn Holman and Lauren Hirsch of The New York Times write, “’We are going to see the Darwinism of retail’ play out in 2023, said Michael Lasser, a retail analyst at UBS who has covered Bed Bath & Beyond for 16 years.” In other words, if you don’t adapt, you die.
Private-Label Fail. For CBS News, Khristopher J. Brooks writes, “Several years ago, Bed Bath & Beyond sought to emulate Target’s success selling private-label products, Thomas said. Under Tritton, store managers began stocking shelves with products from at least 10 company-owned brands.” These private labels never really succeeded for BBBY.
Swift Changeover in Leadership. The company reeled from the death of Chief Financial Officer, Gustavo Arnal. It also ousted its Chief Executive Officer, Mark Tritton, after only three years of service. This kind of turnover, combined with a tragic loss, is never good for a company.
Relevancy Fail. Quoting retail analyst Neil Saunders, CNBC’s Gabrielle Fonrouge writes, “If there is a single point of failure of Bed Bath and Beyond, it’s that the company stopped being relevant to consumers. Arguably, this goes back a long way thanks to the rise of online and the improvement of home offers at rivals like Target. Against this increased competition, Bed Bath and Beyond’s approach to retail – which lacked inspiration – was found wanting.”

The Death of the Church

Many churches learned these same lessons the hard way. Here’s a look at those same failures, and how they pertain to the Church.

Becoming a Category-Killer. Many congregations with imaginative leaders became early innovators. Or, at least, church founders copied models made popular by successful megachurches. These category-killer churches aspired to be the biggest and best on the block, focusing on sensation rather than spirit. The problem is, the bigger they are, the harder they fall.
Failure to Adapt. As times change, churches often fail to adapt. For example, many congregations that didn’t promote their online presence during COVID ended up closing their doors permanently.
Private-Label Fail. Many faith groups de-emphasize the church’s corporate mission of social justice, in favor of individualistic piety and performance. By accentuating individualism, they inadvertently communicate that Christianity can be a solo act. When COVID came and people quit attending in person, many privateering Christians simply never returned.
Swift Changeover in Leadership. In my article, “Pastors are Quiet Quitting the Church,” I highlight the reasons why so many pastors either quiet quit, leave the pulpit for good or move from one church to another. Among these are low salaries, lack of vacation time, constant criticism, and lack of spiritual growth. In another article, “Pastors–Quit Quiet Quitting the Church!” I offer solutions to this problem. Swift changeover in church leadership can be a killer for some congregations.
Relevancy Fail. The Evangelical church (by and large) has so identified itself with conservative politics that it has lost its relevance in today’s society. At the same time, the Mainline church (for the most part) fails to adapt its liturgies and music to modern society and loses its relevance as well. So, it fails to be simultaneously socially and stylistically relevant.

BBBY and the Church

New BBBY Chief Executive Officer Sue Gove said to CNBC, “Millions of customers have trusted us through the most important milestones in their lives – from going to college to getting married, settling into a new home to having a baby. Our teams have worked with incredible purpose to support and strengthen our beloved banners, Bed Bath & Beyond and buybuy BABY,”

The same can be said of the Church. Religious leaders marry people, bury people, and everything in between. They celebrate births, baptisms, confirmations, new jobs, education, and marriages. They grieve with people through deaths, job loss, injuries, physical and mental illnesses, addictions, and failed marriages. Despite the faithfulness of sincere leadership, many congregations are going the way of Bed Bath and Beyond. They find themselves bankrupt and closing their doors.

Both BBBY and dying churches ask themselves, “Is there hope for the future?” What does tomorrow look like, beyond the grave?

Not Resurrection but Reincarnation for BBBY

Bed Bath and Beyond has come back from the Great Beyond. This doesn’t look so much like the resurrection of the old store, but a reincarnation into something new and different. According to an August 1 CNN article by Parija Kavilanz,

A month after Overstock.com announced it bought Bed Bath & Beyond’s brand out of bankruptcy, the company has dumped its name and morphed its website and app.

On Tuesday, Overstock’s website relaunched as BedBathandBeyond.com, a move that merges Overstock’s online business model and merchandise categories with popular branded products favored by Bed Bath & Beyond shoppers.

“All of Overstock’s categories will transition over and new products will also come in,” Jonathan Johnson, CEO of Overstock, said in an interview with CNN…

Johnson promised newness blended with familiarity for Bed Bath & Beyond customers in the latest digital-only version of the retailer.

“It will have the same great bed, bath and kitchen items but it will also have a much bigger beyond,” he said. The “beyond” includes a wider array of linens, cookware and small appliances.

Resurrected and Reincarnated Churches

Christians must remember that death isn’t a bad thing. The apostle Paul writes, “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” When a church dies, perhaps like Jesus we can say, “Do not cry, for she is not dead but sleeping.” Some churches could have hope of resurrection. For others, it might look like reincarnation.

Resurrected Churches

Many older churches that are closing their doors are giving all their assets to younger congregations and new church plants. On RVA Hub, Trevor Dickerson writes, “Patterson Avenue Baptist Church is no more, but their legacy will live on. Following a final service this past Sunday, the aging congregation symbolically handed the keys to their building at 4301 Patterson Avenue to a younger generation–the congregants of Movement Church, a young church that currently meets in the Museum District.” This is not a local phenomenon, but a movement that allows dying churches the power of resurrection.

Some churches that aren’t quite dead yet go through an intentional process of rebranding, in which they change their name and logo. But this may be an attempt to pour new wine into an old wineskin. To follow Jesus’ metaphor, it can only work if you apply the oil of the Holy Spirit to the old, cracked leather and make it new. But renovating a failed organization is a painstaking process. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes a church can be resurrected, and sometimes it can’t. But what if it can’t?

Reincarnated Churches

Dead churches can also be reincarnated. This happens when their people, energy, and resources get dispersed like a person’s last breath on the wind. Then that same energy gets breathed into other congregations. Patterson Avenue’s remaining members went on to join other healthy churches. They infused those bodies with new life when they shared their spiritual gifts in fresh places. In this way, it’s encouraging to know that churches don’t really die—they simply share their life force with other churches, inspiring them in fresh ways.

Even when church members never return to organized religion, the Universal Church can be reincarnated. Every time Christians shine the light of Christ in the world, the Church is reincarnated. Without ever walking through church doors, believers behave as the Church when they encourage someone at work, volunteer for civic organizations, engage in justice or environmental work, or simply smile at the stressed-out supermarket clerk.

Born Again Churches

That’s because the Church can’t die. Like Jesus, the Church is immortal. So, if your local congregation is dying, take heart. We can learn some lessons from Bed Bath and Beyond’s death throes and rebirth. The Church can be resurrected or reincarnated. Because when Jesus said, “You must be born again,” maybe he wasn’t just saying this to individuals. Perhaps the Church needs a rebirth as well.