30+ Mike Yaconelli Quotes (Humorous, Inspiring And Encouraging)

Mike Yaconelli was an American writer, speaker, and founder of Youth Specialties, a Christian organization that trains youth workers. He was known for his humorous and often irreverent approach to Christian ministry and his books, including Messy Spirituality and Dangerous Wonder. Yaconelli was also a popular speaker at conferences and retreats around the world.

Top 10 Mike Yaconelli Quotes

1. Religious people love to hide behind religion. They love the rules of religion more than they love Jesus. With practice, Condemners let rules become more important than the spiritual life.
2. What landed Jesus on the cross was the preposterous idea that common, ordinary, broken, screwed-up people could be godly.
3. Jesus cares more about desire than about competence
4. Play is an expression of God's presence in the world; one clear sign of God's absence in society is the absence of playfulness and laughter.
5. Spiritual growth thrives in the midst of our problems, not in their absence. Spiritual growth occurs in the trenches of life, not in the classroom.
6. Spirituality is not about being fixed; it is about God's being present in the mess of our unfixedness. (Messy Spirituality)
7. When we are in touch with God's joy and peace in us, then we become whole and holy persons. Like living torches we radiate the light and heat of God's compassionate love.
8. Christianity is not about learning how to live within the lines; Christianity is about the joy of coloring.
9. The Church is the place where the incompetent, the unfinished, and even the unhealthy are welcome. I believe Jesus agrees.
10. Until we start thinking in terms of revolution instead of compromise the Church will continue to pat itself on the back with token steps of renewal.

Mike Yaconelli Famous Quotes And Sayings

Rest is a decision we make. Rest is choosing to do nothing when we have too much to do, slowing down when we feel pressure to go faster, stopping instead of starting. Rest is listening to our weariness and responding to our tiredness, not to what is making us tired. Rest is what happens when we say one simple word: “No! — Mike Yaconelli

The grace of God is dangerous. It's lavish, excessive, outrageous, and scandalous. God's grace is ridiculously inclusive. Apparently God doesn't care who He loves. He is not very careful about the people He calls His friends or the people He calls His church. — Mike Yaconelli

The power of the Church is not a parade of flawless people, but of a flawless Christ who embraces our flaws. The Church is not made up of whole people, rather of the broken people who find wholeness in a Christ who was broken for us. — Mike Yaconelli

Im unfinished. Im unfixed. And the reality is thats where God meets me is in the mess of my life, in the unfixedness, in the brokenness. I thought he did the opposite, he got rid of all that stuff. But if you read the Bible, if you look at it at all, constantly he was showing up in peoples lives at the worst possible time of their life. — Mike Yaconelli

I want a lifetime of holy moments. Every day I want to be in dangerous proximity to Jesus. I long for a life that explodes with meaning and is filled with adventure, wonder, risk, and danger. I long for a faith that is gloriously treacherous. I want to be with Jesus, not knowing whether to cry or laugh. — Mike Yaconelli

There are a whole lot of people who are so freakin' busy—they've so cluttered up their lives—they're at their wits' end. And if they'd only just stop for a minute, they could hear the God of the universe whisper to them, “I love you. — Mike Yaconelli

Accepting the reality of our broken, flawed lives is the beginning of spirituality not because the spiritual life will remove our flaws but because we let go of seeking perfection and, instead, seek God, the one who is present in the tangledness of our lives. — Mike Yaconelli

Spirituality is a mixed-up, topsy-turvy, helter-skelter godliness that turns our lives into an upside-down toboggan ride of unexpected turns, surprise bumps and bone shattering crashes ... a life ruined by a Jesus who loves us right into his arms. — Mike Yaconelli

Think about how many of us have wondered why we don't fit, why our faith doesn't stabilize us, why we seem so out of sync with most of the world. Genuine faith is the isolating force in our lives that creates tension wherever we go. To put it another way, faith is the unbalancing force in our lives that is the fruit of God's disturbing presence. — Mike Yaconelli

Speed is not neutral. Fast living used to mean a life of debauchery; now it just means fast, but the consequences are even more serious. Speeding through life endangers our relationships and our souls. — Mike Yaconelli

Nothing makes people in the church more angry than grace. It's ironic: we stumble into a party we weren't invited to and find the uninvited standing at the door making sure no other uninviteds get in. — Mike Yaconelli

Speed damages our souls because living fast consumes every ounce of our energy. Speed has a deafening roar that drowns our the whispering voices of our souls and leaves Jesus as a diminishing speck in the rearview mirror. — Mike Yaconelli

Children live in a world of dreams and imagination, a world of aliveness… There is a voice of wonder and amazement inside all of us; but we grow to realize we can no longer hear it, and we live in silence. It isn’t that God stopped speaking; it is that our lives became louder. — Mike Yaconelli

Spiritual growth is more than procedure, it’s a wild search for God in the midst of the tangled jungle of our souls, a search for which involves a volatile mix of messy reality, wild freedom, frustrating stuckness, increasing slowness and a healthy dose of gratitude — Mike Yaconelli

Pretending is the grease of non-relationships. Pretending is how you and I get through the day without ever having to know each other. When I walk in the room, you say to me, 'How are you?' Well, you don't want to know. And, frankly, I don't want to tell you. So I just say, 'Fine,' and you go, 'Fine.' And off we go. — Mike Yaconelli

Our world is... longing to see people whose God is big and holy and frightening and gentle and tender... and ours; a God whose love frightens us into His strong and powerful arms where He longs to whisper those terrifying words, 'I love you.' — Mike Yaconelli

Sin does not always drive us to drink; more often it drives us to exhaustion. Tiredness is equally as debilitating as drunkenness. Burnout is slang for an inner tiredness, a fatigue of our souls. Jesus came to forgive us all of our sins, including the sin of busyness. The problem with growth in the modern church is not the slowness of growth but the rushing of growth. — Mike Yaconelli

For God so loved the world, that whosoever believes in him will, from that point on, be considered weired by the rest of the world, which means the church should be more like a zoo than a tomb of identical mummies. — Mike Yaconelli

Spirituality isn't about being finished and perfect; spirituality is about trusting God in our unfinishedness. — Mike Yaconelli

Just because we believe the gospel is a life-and-death matter doesn't mean we have to act as if we're dead. — Mike Yaconelli

Life Lessons by Mike Yaconelli

1. Mike Yaconelli taught that it is important to take risks and to be willing to fail in order to grow and learn.
2. He also emphasized the importance of living with a sense of humor and joy, even in the midst of difficult circumstances.
3. He encouraged people to be open to the unexpected and to embrace the beauty of life's imperfections.