South Asian Institute of Leadership and Cultural Studies

Every once in a while an opportunity comes along where BiblicalTraining.org can make a substantial difference in the ministry of another organization. This is one of those situations.

SAI has been training church planters for many years. Our trip to India last year was partly to learn more about them and see if we should be working more closely together. Our overwhelming sense is that their mission is God's mission, and we are in a position to help, and so we are.

They have been building a new campus in Coimbatore, India. When we were there, they were a few months from finishing. Classes started this January (2009) on the new campus. Their goal is to train 350 pastors every three years, and over the next 20 years plant 50,000 church throughout India. They also want to serve as a research center for other teachers.

The inside commons area of the school

Their teaching comes from three sources: their own faculty; faculty from other countries who will teach two week sessions; BiblicalTraining's Leadership classes. They estimate that half of their classes will come from BiblicalTraining.org, which means that half of their education is delivered free of charge to them.

We have committed to provide them with all the class lectures they need. We have also committed to find world-class teachers who will come and teach the two-week sessions. One of the interesting parts of the vision is that on the weekend of the two week session, SAI will invite Indian teachers from throughout the country to come to a Saturday session with the professor so he can catch them up on what is happening in their field.

But like much of the ministry in India, their approach is holistic. We were struck by this during our visit. No one is standing on the street corner preaching. Effective ministries are heavily involved in meeting the needs of the people, and when they have earned the right then they share the gospel. One of the ways they do this is in caring for orphans. We invite you to click on Orphanage in the QuickLinks to the left to learn how you can be involved in this project.

There are two types of people in this world, those who want to build their kingdom, and those who want to build the kingdom of God. SAI is firmly in the latter camp, and we are proud to be helping them any way we can.

The school viewed from the future site of the chapel

Incidentally, SAI will not go into debt. They have raised the first million dollars with which they bought the 20 acres and built the first of the four buildings. With this facility they can train 100 church planting pastors at a time. When they receive the remaining $700,000, they will be able to complete the remaining three buildings and train 350 students at a time. If you would like to be involved in their ministry, please contact us through the contact page.