Books in the Dave Andrews Legacy series

In his acclaimed book Christi-Anarchy, Dave Andrews explored the ugly ruins of Christian history, and outlined the radical vision of Jesus for personal and community renewal.In 'Not Religion but Love' he shows how that vision can become a reality. With poignant, real-life stories drawn form his Brisbane backyard, Dave Andrews gives us a practical guide to working out Jesus' agenda for love and justice in our own lives and neighborhoods.Complete with group exercises and an ample collection of extra resources for study, Not Religion but Love is a book to read at your own risk: it might change your life.

Endorsements:"The bits and pieces people have written for this book represent a beautiful multicolored, multilayered mosaic of lessons they have learned about living life together through their association with the Waiters Union. These reflections highlight the little bit of progress we have made in the midst of our struggle to live with each other and work with one another. These stories of our successes, wrested from our failures, sustain our hope for learning more about how we can move towards a more authentic life together."--Dave Andrews and Helen Beazley, Editors"Raw, authentic, generous . . . Unprocessed, untreated, pure, organic even . . . There''s no pretense, no effort to put on a mask or try to show a face other than that which is the normal and everyday . . . A ''big'' experience, not half-hearted or sparse . . . The heart of community."--John Dacey, Community Minister, Mt. Druitt"This book celebrates the learnings of people who journeyed a week, a month, a decade, or more with that small network in West End. It''s a celebration of many ordinary, everyday people living in and working with communities where not everyone has enough to eat, or a safe place to live, or access to a good education or adequate health care. It''s a celebration of an authentic struggle to live grace and hope and love into the world. It''s a celebration of a successful people''s movement and a life-changing community immersion experience. I hope it is also an encouragement to help you move from where you are now to where you want to be."--Lin Hatfield Dodds, Director of Uniting Care Australia"Through the Waiters Union I have been able to experience more of the many worlds that exist in my street and suburb . . . The Waiters network has quiet links to many aspects of my suburb that I hadn''t previously realized were connected . . . This (becomes) quite obvious if you fall down the Waiters Union rabbit hole."--Emily James, Community Worker, Neighbor and Friend"The Waiters model and method, infused by the practices of love and hope of justice, is an important contribution to the life of many people in West End, mine included. It is also a model that enables many people in other locations to re-imagine community development in all its breadth, and depth, and multiplicity."--Peter Westoby, Lecturer in Community Development, University of Queensland"Clearly the current surge of interest in the Waiters Union is because (its) ministry was before its time, but now that time has come. The Waiters Union offers one of the very effective, replicable, genuine, missional models of (the future) church in Australia."--Geoff Westlake, Co-Founder and Coordinator of CheersAuthor Biography:Dave Andrews is an Australian Christian anarchist author, speaker, social activist, and community worker who, along with his wife, Ange, and their family have lived and worked in intentional communities with marginalized groups of people in Australia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India for over forty years. Along with friends, Dave and Ange started Aashiana, Sahara, and Sharan--three Christian community organizations working with slum dwellers, sex workers, and people with HIV/AIDS in India. He is also a part of Waiters Union, an inner-city Christian community network working with Indigenous Australians, refugees and people with disabilities in Australia. Dave is also an Elder for Servants to Asia''s Urban Poor, an educator for TEAR Australia, a Christian international aid and development agency, and a lecturer at the University of Queensland and Christian Heritage College. 

Endorsements:"The doctrine of the Trinity--that God is one and yet three and three without ceasing to be one--is for many people the most perplexing of all beliefs. How does one make sense of it? Dave Andrews has meditated long and hard on what this most mysterious and beautiful of religious beliefs means, not just at a theoretical or speculative level, but also at a practical, down-to-earth level. It''s an indispensable paradigm for living together in a cruel, violent and lonely world."-Chris Marshall, St. John''s Senior Lecturer in Christian Theology, Religious Studies Department, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand"Dave Andrews is one of Australia''s most innovative community workers. His vision for social change, however, comes out of a well-articulated theological vision. Dave clearly demonstrates that Jesus'' vision of the in-breaking reign of God rooted in Trinitarian theology can be the inspirational centre for contemporary community work. This challenging piece of integrated writing can be ''a guide to all who seek to bring the shalom of God to all the places of pain and injustice in our world.''"-Charles Ringma, Professor Emeritus, Regent College, Vancouver, Canada"When I met Dave Andrews, I could feel the fire burning in him. Then I heard him speak. Then I read his books. Ever since, he has been and continues to be a major inspiration in my life and work."-Brian McLaren, pastor and best selling author of The Secret Message of Jesus and Everything Must Change.Author Biography:Dave Andrews is an Australian Christian anarchist author, speaker, social activist, and community worker who, along with his wife, Ange, and their family have lived and worked in intentional communities with marginalized groups of people in Australia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India for over forty years. Along with friends, Dave and Ange started Aashiana, Sahara, and Sharan--three Christian community organizations working with slum dwellers, sex workers, and people with HIV/AIDS in India. He is also a part of Waiters Union, an inner-city Christian community network working with Indigenous Australians, refugees and people with disabilities in Australia. Dave is also an Elder for Servants to Asia''s Urban Poor, an educator for TEAR Australia, a Christian international aid and development agency, and a lecturer at the University of Queensland and Christian Heritage College.

Originally published: Oxford: Lion, 1999.

How does Jesus, and the ancient Scriptures he held sacred, help us get our bearings in this multifarious, complicated, conflicted, and increasingly endangered planet?First, seek theological insight that can guide our practice. In ""Navigating the Meanings of Being a Christian,"" Mark Deleaney invites us on his journey of theological reflection twenty years after his certainties were shaken by a life-changing encounter in an Indian slum. In ""Evangelism in a Pluralist Society,"" Ross Farley applies his experience of evangelism in sensitive contexts to a careful review of evangelism in the New Testament and finds that what we call evangelism bears little relationship to the Gospel and Acts.On the subject of HIV epidemics, Greg Manning and Dave Andrews have joined the struggle to reduce HIV infection rates and witnessed the stigmatization of vulnerable people based on misapplied Christian moral teaching. In ""Supporting HIV Prevention as People of Faith,"" they consider the Sermon on the Mount as a valuable framework for dealing sensitively and effectively with people vulnerable to HIV infection.Second, critically reflect on possible distortions that come from our own perspectives. In his essay ""Liberation Theologians Speak to Evangelicals,"" Charles Ringma shows how Liberation Theologians can shed light on the inadequacies of the evangelical movement in its perspective on God's love for the poor. Helen Beazley's essay ""Antidote for a Poisoned Planet?"" examines whether stewardship--the dominant framework informing evangelical perspectives on the environment--can alone radically reorient Christians in their relationship to creation so necessary for its renewal.Third, look for the challenges in the Bible that critique our current orientations and call us to be reconverted. In ""An Evangelical Approach to Interfaith Engagement,"" Dave Andrews takes one of our most precious articles of exclusive faith, ""Jesus is the Way,"" and makes it a framework for inclusive interfaith dialogue by exploring the ""Way"" that Jesus in the Gospels advocated engaging with people from other traditions and religions. In ""Australia--Whose Land?"" Peter Adams allows himself to be utterly transformed by the Bible's clear ethical teaching, which, he convincingly argues, must be applied in all its fullness to the injustice of Europeans towards indigenous Australians.