Paul Calvert spoke with Prospects

Anne Mann

Prospects is the lead Christian organisation for people with learning disabilities and their families.

Their aim is to provide appropriate quality support enabling people to live their lives to the full. Their experience in providing spiritual support adds value to the professional expertise that is available and contributes to a holistic approach to individual support.

Paul Calvert spoke with Anne from Prospects to find out more.

Paul: Anne, what is Prospects?

Anne: Prospects is a charity that was founded in around 1973 that works with people with learning disabilities. It works with people in the community to help them to live an independent life, but it's also a missional charity that helps churches to minister to the needs of people with a learning disability in their congregation and to encourage people to go out in their communities and bring in people with a learning disability to show them the love of Jesus, so that they too can receive Jesus as their Saviour. The Bible teaches us that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and that all are capable of receiving the gift of salvation, irrespective of how they are; how disabled they are, or whether they have speech, etc., because their spirit is not disabled.

Paul: So is there a lot of misunderstanding about disabled people?

Anne: Yes, absolutely. I mean a lot of people seem to think that adults with a learning disability are just like children and if they were to die they would go to heaven anyway, but absolutely not: that's not the case. They can receive and do receive salvation as I know from the experience of having a daughter with Down's Syndrome, who at the age of 30 is now born again, Spirit-filled and being used by God to teach people about how God has impacted her life and made her more independent and capable of living life to the full.

Paul: As a mother it must be difficult having a disabled child, but there must be so many blessings as well.

Anne: Yes, absolutely. When Gill was quite young I was in a prayer meeting and God spoke to me very clearly and he said, "Did I believe that he could heal my daughter?" and I said, "Yes Lord, I do believe that we will all be raised up on the last day and we will all be healed," and God said, "No, do you believe that I can heal her?" and I just said, "Yes Lord, I believe," and he said "Well I'm not going to, but I'm going to limit the effects of Down's Syndrome in her in order to show my glory through her." So I've witnessed that throughout her life: that God is intervening daily to limit the effects of Down's in order for her to be able to live that abundant life that he promises to all of us who receive Jesus Christ.

Paul: And what's God been doing with your daughter?

Anne: Well, it all started about two years ago. She was living at home with us and was able to go out to work in the community and go into training, etc., but then she decided that she wanted to live independently and almost overnight there was a property and a support service locally that had a vacancy and doors just opened miraculously to allow her to go there two years ago this coming November. Then almost straight after that she received a prophecy that she was going to share her testimony and as a result people would get saved and so again, straight after that we started to receive invitations for her to speak to people and, most recently, she spoke in front of a group of Christians at a prayer meeting, about 700 in number and gave her testimony, which was such an encouragement. Then she was asked to pray for people that were in the congregation and people were asked to stand up if they had sick relatives and the pastor got Gill to pray for them. So, without hesitation and completely filled with the Holy Spirit and without her normal hesitation of speech, she just reached out her hand and prayed in the power of the Spirit for people in the congregation and it was just amazing. God is really using her and people have been mightily blessed through her.

Paul: Wow, that's amazing. Why do you do what you do?

Anne: It's personal. About two years ago God released me from paid employment through voluntary redundancy and early retirement. It was whilst I was at Faith Camp that God really broke me and showed me his heart for these precious people. Once you've glimpsed God's heart and you've received the call to go, you can't refuse him. You just have this inner compulsion to just show Jesus' heart for these wonderful people. Only this week at Faith Camp, when we've been talking about the feast, God has shown me the table that he has prepared, but there are empty seats and he's saying clearly, "These seats are for people with a learning disability. I want you to go and bring them in because I want them, I love them, and they're my children."

Paul: And what's your prayer for disabled people all around the world?

Anne: My prayer is that they would receive the love of Jesus Christ, but in order to do that, people need to go. I would encourage anybody that's reading this to really seek God. You don't need to have any special gifts, any special talents; you just need to go filled with his love and to share that love with people with a learning disability. They just need to receive love and Jesus will do the rest. You don't need to go with big words or lots of understanding, just introduce them to Jesus through his love and the Holy Spirit will do the rest.