South Asia Institute of Advanced Christian Studies

South Asia Institute of Advanced Christian Studies (SAIACS pronounced sai + axe), is a Christian evangelical institute for postgraduate theological studies and research in Bangalore, India. Its tagline is: "Excellence for mission." It was founded in 1982, by Graham Houghton, after an over-tea conversation with fellow New Zealander and missionary Bruce Nicholls. Initially, a two-year Master of Theology (MTh) programme in Missiology was offered under the umbrella of the Association of Evangelical Theological Education in India (AETEI), in partnership with Madras Bible Seminary in Chennai (then Madras). However, the first batch of students had some of their classes in Chennai and others in Bangalore. Finally, by 1983 the programmed moved permanently to Bangalore and sought and received accreditation from Asia Theological Association under its own name. Since its inception, SAIACS has grown to offer various degrees within several specialisations. It has 130 students on campus each year. In its first year, the SAIACS library had about 100 books. Today the library has over 40000 volumes. SAIACS is now a largely residential research institute which has an evangelical ethos and offers postgraduate degree programmes for an MA, MDiv, MTh, Doctor of Ministry (DMin), Doctor of Missiology (DMiss) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). Currently there are six departmental specialisations being offered at SAIACS; namely, Old Testament, New Testament, Theology, Missiology, Pastoral Theology & Counselling and Study of Religions. The first principal of SAIACS was Graham Houghton. In 2004, Ashish Chrispal took over as principal. He was followed by F. Hrangkhuma as Principal from 2006-2008. The current Principal is Ian Payne.