Hannah Felsbourg
11 August 2024
Rob Nansen is children’s and youth ministry coordinator at St Mark’s Spotswood and founder and director of Jesse’s Stump Blacksmithing & Bush Furniture.
Here he shares about his work, and how he sees God at work through it. Mr Nansen’s story is part of a series profiling workers in different areas, engaging in God’s work in the world.
How did you end up in the position you’re in?
I studied social work and worked on an outdoor education program where I taught teenage boys blacksmithing and bush furniture making. I enjoyed it and kept it as a hobby for 12 years. And then I ran a blacksmithing session at a camp and had a ball. My wife suggested I do holiday programs, and I eventually ran my first workshop at Dromkeen in Riddells Creek. Now, I partner with community centres and host sessions at my home workshop. I started at St Mark’s two years ago. The main parts of my role are running both the Sunday morning program and youth group.
How do you see it fitting in the big picture of God’s work in the world?
A guy came from Freestyle Dance Ministry, ran a dance workshop, and shared his testimony. At the next activity we had, I asked the young people, “What did you think of his testimony?” A year 8 boy said it didn’t sound plausible. It made me realise you can’t assume where these kids are at with their faith. I want that space to be able to explore, “What are all the other implausible beliefs going around our society and how are we going to decipher what we are going to take on board.” When we think of God’s work in the world, we often think of external missionary work, but the work we’re doing is missional in a sense because these children are a harvest field within.
Has there been much overlap between your blacksmithing and youth ministry work?
When I started Jesse’s Stump it was separate to my social work in the past. After a while I thought, “How can I bring it together?” We put on the website things like mentorship, and I throw in talk to do with resilience. I can use the hammer blows in blacksmithing as a metaphor to represent life struggles that can shape us into something beautiful in the end. As the youth group at St Mark’s was developing, a parent asked about activities running over the school holidays. I ran a blacksmithing workshop and now it’s a regular event.
How do you see God at work through your work?
The phrase safe space keeps coming back to me. Some of the young people I’m working with are a bit introverted or shy. Sometime church culture can be aimed at adults and adult sensibilities. Young people need spaces where they feel like they can be themselves and do their own thing. I’m trying to create a safe space where they can support each other and have a voice to me and my team of volunteers.
On one of the family camps, I ran they wrote a list of issues they were carrying. They’re carrying a lot of heavy stuff. A lot of worrying, trying to get everything right, not making mistakes … their little shoulders are weighed down. So, if I can create a safe space where we’re not just filling their heads with theology but that they’re in a supportive community, that’s going to be a real protective factor.
When I first started, one young person would sometimes feel overwhelmed on Sunday mornings and cry, wanting to go back to their mum. I gave her non-verbal strategies like flashcards with traffic light colours to express how she’s feeling, but now she just puts her hand up and uses her voice to speak up more. She’s shown a lot of progression.
There’s also started to be more personal sharing. I’ll often start the session with a check-in, “How are we out of 10, and why?” I’ll usually go first to role model that. That’s giving them a chance to share what’s going on in their lives. A few of them have shared significant things like a health concern about a parent, a concern about a sibling’s faith journey, and school friendship issues. Instead of them sitting there being taught from top down, there’s cross support happening.
Read more: We are ‘with’ as God is with us: Serving at St Vincent’s
What fruit do you hope to see in your context? What is your dream for this ministry?
I think of my own experience of youth group. I didn’t grow up going to church, so I didn’t have the Sunday School experience, but my youth group experience was amazing. It was a safe space for me when I didn’t have that in many other places. I got a faith out of it but also good role models. It changed the direction of my life.
My dreams are to try and replicate that. I would love to see the young people get that sort of anchor in their lives and keep it going for their whole lives. I want them to have a thinking and robust faith, not a light fluffy faith where they just go to church because that’s what their family does. In our Australian society, there’s an increasing hostility towards religion. So I wants young people to have robustness so that they can stand against peer pressure.
What encourages you in your work?
Getting to know the young people and seeing them come out of their shells. Just having fun with them. Watching my helpers interact with the young people as well. We learn from each other when watch each other, with different styles and skills and knowledge. Also, meeting with other people in a similar role.
Sometimes in group workshops there is one kid who scared of the fire and then an hour into it, they’ve gotten over the fear. I might hold the tongs for them and help ease them into doing it themselves. Through doing something it builds your confidence. You can see with your eyes, “Wow, I’ve done that.” It’s like you prove to yourself that you are capable. That’s something I love to see.
What’s one thing you’d like Christians in Melbourne to know about your work?
When I was 12 and my mum started taking me to a Christian youth group, I was a boy who was from a broken home and was pretty lost. My family was a little lost as well. Because of the youth group I went to and the dedication of the youth leaders, it’s a cliché, but I was lost and then I was found. There are a lot of lost people out there and we don’t want to be complacent or comfortable in our own enclaves. I want to encourage people to keep that in mind. Christianity is something too precious not to share.
This story forms part of a profile series on ministry workers taking part in God’s work in the world. If you know of someone with an encouraging story, let us know at tma@melbourneanglican.org.au.
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