Anna Henning

After twelve years of full-time ministry in her hometown Detroit and a few years at Emmaus Bible College in Iowa, her husband joined the Cornerstone Theological Seminary faculty in 2022.  She now lives in Wyoming, MI with her husband and three children, happy to be a Michigander once again. Over the years she has used her BA in English and MA in Teaching & Curriculum to teach in high school, college, camp and church settings. She loves cross-cultural bridge building, real-world learning and opportunities to bring people closer to Jesus.  In her spare time you can find her thrifting, gardening, hiking, reading to her three kids, drinking coffee with a friend, or finding an excuse to throw a party. She is so thankful for the chance to engage with the NPC community, especially the amazing teenagers that make her classroom full of life and potential. Seeing God’s image stamped on them is a true joy and privilege!

For me, teaching is an opportunity to follow the Lord Jesus. Teaching truth was a central focus of the Lord’s earthly ministry, and He left His followers to continue this work, saying go “disciple” others (Matthew 28:19). In short, teach. The opportunity to share truth and guide growth in each of my students is a high calling and deep responsibility. All truth is God’s truth, and so whether we are discussing Scripture or Shakespeare, the learning and growing we do can all be an act of worship as we deepen our understandings of self, world and God. What a joy and privilege to partner with the Master Teacher even as He sends the Holy Spirit to “guide us into all truth,” (John 16:13).

In the English classroom we are immersed in the beauty and power of a God given blessing – language. In the beginning God spoke the world into existence, and as His image bearers we continue to speak things into existence, albeit it to a lesser extent. Like Adam who was privileged to name the animals and exert his own creativity upon God’s creation, we too have the privilege to name and speak, imagine and communicate. Words have power. My desire is for students to understand both the weight and beauty of language, to use it to bring life, and not death. As a class we will strive to tame both the tongue and the pen as we honor the image of God that exists in others, however different from us, and use language to explore ideas and ultimately point others to the Source of Life Himself. We will also seek to understand and discern the thoughts of others, consider the soundness of logical arguments and the artistry of creative expression as we read a variety of texts. 

In the Government classroom we dive headlong into the world of men, but seek to ground that within a heavenly-minded framework of God’s design for authority and rule. Looking to Scripture we find that God is the ultimate good, the One from whom comes all sense of right and wrong, and the Prince of Peace who will insist upon true righteousness and justice. We will also see how incapable fallen human beings are at being just and right. This will help us set the stage for understanding the place of human government in a Biblical context and to understand our own time and place in human history. Most of our study will focus on the United States of America’s governmental structure and development, including its founding documents and growth over time. I want students prepared to engage in civil life in whatever manner the Lord may call them to serve, fully ready to be in the world, but not of the world, recognizing themselves ultimately as citizens of heaven who love God and their neighbors as themselves. Ultimately students’ ability to understand both the privilege and limitations of our government should help them “to live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness,”( 1 Timothy 2:2).