Dave Andrews (born 20 May 1951) is an Australian Christian anarchist author, speaker, social activist, community developer, 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. He is the author of five non-fiction books including Christi-Anarchy, which describes in detail his excommunication from worldwide Christian mission organisation, Youth With A Mission and calls for a total deconstruction and reconstruction of what it is to follow Jesus. He has been described as a "prophet" by both Mike Riddell and Rowland Croucher. Andrews is married to wife Ange and the father of two.
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 stayed from 1972 until 1984.
Andrews was [[excommunication|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 [[Post-cult trauma|aftermath]] as devastating: "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 [[mental breakdown|psychological breakdowns]]. One guy was taken away to an [[Psychiatric hospital|asylum]]."
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 in India 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. Present in that country at the time of the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984, Andrews helped protect Sikhs from the backlash that ensued through non-violent intervention. David Engwicht claims that Andrews and a friend "put themselves between an armed mob and a Sikh family and saved them from certain death." Andrews and his wife were forced to leave that year.
Dave and Ange returned to Australia with their daughters Evonne and Navi, they were employed by Queensland Baptist Care. 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 organisation relying on mutual, rather than hierarchical, accountability.