Dave Andrews (activist)

Dave Andrews
Occupation	writer, speaker, activist
Nationality	Australian
Genre	Christian theology
Subject	Christian anarchy
Literary movement	Neopelagian
Spouse	Ange
Website
http://www.daveandrews.com.au/

Dave Andrews is an Australian Christian anarchist author, speaker, social activist, community developer, Neopelagian thinker and a key figure in the Waiter's Union, an inner city Christian community network working with Indigenous Australians, refugees and people with disabilities in Australia. Andrews is also a trainer for the Vision For Mission of the Uniting Church of Australia; an educator at large for TEAR Australia, a Christian international aid and development agency; a teacher for the Bible College of Queensland, the Brisbane College of Theology, and the Australian College of Ministries. Andrews is married to wife Ange and the father of two.

Early Years

Born in England, Andrews grew up the son of a Baptist pastor in the West End of Brisbane. After spending time in Afghanistan, he went to India with his wife Ange and spent twelve or thirteen years there through the 70's. Andrews was excommunicated from Youth With A Mission by their International Council. The reasoning, according to Andrews, was that "I was a rebel and, as an unrepentant rebel, would be summarily excommunicated," and that "it 'was what the Lord told' them to do." Andrews described the aftermath as devestating: "I became suicidal because all the significant people I turned to denounced me, no one else would speak to me, and the people who had promised to protect me ended up having psychological breakdowns. One guy was taken away to an asylum."

After Excommunication

Andrews has stated that he and his wife committed themselves to a creative, constructive course of action and experienced "a profound level of healing" over the next five to ten years. In 1975, Dave and Ange and their friends started a residential community called Aashiana out of which grew Sahara, Sharan and Sahasee – three well-known Christian community organisations working with slum dwellers, sex workers, drug addicts, and people with HIV/AIDS in India.

The Waiter's Union

Dave and Ange founded The Waiters' Union as a non-formal network of spiritually minded activists who serve the homeless and the needy in the streets of West End. The Waiter's Union throws a Community Meal every fortnight to which those in halfway houses are invited, and members homes have different assistance objectives and are open to people in need. It is a structureless organization relying on mutual, rather than heirarchical, accountability.

Published Works

• Can You Hear the Heartbeat? Manila: OMF Literature, 1989.
• Building a Better World. Sutherland: Albatross Books, 1996.
• Christi-Anarchy. Discovering a Radical Spirituality of Compassion. Oxford: Lion Publishing, 1999.
• Not Religion, But Love – Practising a Radical Spirituality of Compassion. Oxford: Lion Publishing, 2001.