Donut Time & Divine Diversity

How Griggs started sharing donuts each Sunday and what we learned from it 

In the early days of our revitalization, Griggs had several teaching times each week. There was Sunday school at 10 a.m., the morning worship service at 11, a Sunday evening service at 6, and our Wednesday night service as well.

That rhythm is familiar to many Baptist churches, especially here in the South. It’s a good structure for teaching multiple topics each week — and it works beautifully when a church is large and thriving.

But when your church is in a rough patch, like ours was after Pastor Yoemans passed away, it can make sense to simplify. Instead of spreading energy thin across several teaching opportunities, we wanted to pour more of our energy into building relationships — with each other, with new members, and with the many visitors we were praying would come.

So we made a small but meaningful change. We turned the 10 a.m. Sunday school hour into a time of fellowship downstairs in the fellowship hall. Since it was early on a Sunday morning, the idea of pairing it with donuts and coffee seemed like a natural fit. We called it “Donut Time.” Apparently, we didn’t feel a real need to be flashy in naming ministries back then.

We bought a humble coffee pot — a $20 “Mr. Coffee” from Target — and each week someone would pick up donuts on their way to church.

Each Sunday morning, our people gathered in what was then the fellowship hall. People would trickle in between 10 and 10:30, grab a cup of coffee, and start talking. More and more people came each week. 

Photo by IsaacCropsey.com

It may sound simple, even trivial — but this weekly donut time began to shape a core conviction for our church: there’s no strange mix of people to Jesus.

That truth became clear week after week as we looked around the room. At “Donut Time,” there might be three or four neighbors from Poe Mill, a few homeless friends, some longtime Griggs members, and a handful of college students — all sitting together, laughing, and sharing stories.

To the world, that’s a strange crowd. A mix of people who, on paper, shouldn’t be in the same room. But to Jesus, that’s completely normal.

Jesus always brings people from different backgrounds together — poor shepherds and wealthy Magi, Samaritans and Jews, tax collectors and zealots. He loves to unite those who would otherwise have nothing in common.

This is part of His gospel. Jesus died for our sins and offers to anyone who will believe His own righteous standing before the Father. Thus, as people kneel before His cross, they all do so on level ground, so that no one is superior or inferior to another.

Ephesians tells us, “He Himself is our peace” and that He “has broken down the dividing wall” that used to keep us all apart.

This conviction — that there’s no strange mix of people to Jesus — quickly became one of our hopes and prayers for Griggs.

We realized all the more that, as we revitalized, we didn’t want to become a congregation that was explainable. We didn’t want to curate our programming to a specific demographic and thus draw out a homogeneous group of people. Even if we grew by the hundreds, that would not have been a “win.” Any company, or cause, or club can do that.

Our vision is to be a mix of people only explainable by the presence of the Spirit — a group of brothers and sisters that would seem strange to the outsider, but not to the One who brought us in.

And Jesus has continued and will continue to accomplish this for us in His goodness — even if all we have to offer Him is our five donuts and two coffees.

Eventually, as our church grew and more kids filled the downstairs, Donut Time had to move upstairs to the front porch, where it is today. And at some point, Donut Time was relabeled as our Welcome Team. But the spirit of simplicity, connection, and valuing relationships has stayed the same.

To this day, dozens of people arrive early, linger on the porch, talk, pray, and get to know one another over donuts and coffee. We’ve seen new friendships form, burdens shared, and multiple ministry opportunities with the homeless community of Poinsett Highway materialize.  

Every week, thanks to a slight change we made ten years ago, we get a joyful reminder that, to Jesus, there’s no strange mix of people.

Photo by IsaacCropsey.com

This article origionally appeared in Griggs Church’s community newspaper: Saltbox Quarterly.