Dr. Manohar James and Jasmine James founded Serving Alongside International (SAI) to help rural churches in India grow through theological training and resources. Manohar is originally from Andhra Pradesh, while Jasmine hails from Tamil Nadu in South India.

Over the last 32 years, Manohar has worked throughout India in various roles such as missionary, church planter, administrator, and professor. Before establishing SAI, both Manohar and Jasmine served as professors at MIT Seminary in Nagpur, Maharashtra, India for a decade. Manohar also held the position of head of the seminary.

Manohar and Jasmine obtained their B.A. and M.Div. degrees in India. Manohar further completed a PhD in intercultural studies from Asbury Theological Seminary, USA. Their journey, marked by suffering, illness, and persecution, equipped them with humility and experience essential for their mission of training biblically illiterate pastors in India.

In 2011, during a three-month ministry trip to India, they explored the needs of independent churches and identified challenges faced by rural churches, particularly a lack of biblical knowledge, social skills, and contextualization. They found that numerous congregations were spiritually undernourished and showed limited growth in their ministries due to insufficient theological training. 

Following this discovery, they organized a seminar for pastors in Andhra Pradesh, attended by 110 leaders, where it was noted that only three had any formal theological training before entering ministry. Many pastors pleaded for their assistance in providing in-the-field theological training, contextualization skills, and evangelism tools. Upon returning to the USA, the couple prayed and deliberated for several months, eventually founding Serving Alongside International, Inc. in 2012. The vision of SAI is to strategically strengthen local church leadership in rural India by equipping undertrained pastors and empowering them to support all social classes through various resources, fostering holistic transformation. They welcome and encourage churches and individuals who embody Christ’s love in word and deed to join them in aiding the people of India through spiritual support, education, and financial contributions.

Manohar is an ordained minister, seminar speaker, and encourager. He travels across the USA to preach and teach. He also visits India three times a year, spending six to eight weeks each trip, to provide training for pastors and support their partner ministries through assistance and encouragement. Manohar’s recent academic publications are Religious Conversion in India (PickWick, 2022) and a book chapter in Christians and Christianity in India Today (Fortress, 2024). Manohar and Jasmine were married for 23 years. They have two sons, Jason (age twelve) and Jonathan (age six), who were born eleven years after their marriage. They reside in Madison, WI.