‘I turned my theology PhD into trading cards’

I remember sitting in my flat last spring, staring at another rejection email. “We love your research,” it said. “Your work on music theology and post-rock is exactly the kind of innovative thinking we need. But…”

There was always a ‘but’.

I’d just completed my PhD at the University of Birmingham, researching how people encounter God through instrumental music - bands like Sigur Rós and Mogwai, not worship songs or classical hymns. I’d won academic prizes and Bible colleges loved my research, but they just couldn’t hire me. Too outside the box. Too experimental. Not enough traditional worship music training.

Meanwhile, I kept seeing headlines about the quiet revival - Bible Society research showing that Gen Z loves scripture, but maybe not the institutional Church so much. Then there was the British Academy data: theological education enrolments plummeting. Young people hungry for God but allergic to traditional formats. And here I was, a theology PhD, unemployed and wondering what I was supposed to do.

Changing places

So, I did something completely unexpected: I enrolled on a barista training course. Well grounded Coffee, an award-winning social enterprise, became my career saviour. I started documenting my coffee journey on Instagram, learning to dial in espresso shots and steam milk. It felt humbling. Embarrassing, even. What was I doing with my life? Then I got a message that changed everything. A theology student, unemployed, despairing, had been planning to end her life. She’d seen my posts about pivoting from academia to coffee, about finding meaning in unexpected places. Something clicked. She reached out for help. She’s still here.

That’s when I realised: I’m not a pure institutional scholar. I need to find ways to make theology great again - to make it accessible, relevant and life-giving in people’s actual daily lives.

Teenagers who’d never touch a theological textbook were buying decks and discussing them over coffee

I’d spent years researching how music creates theological meaning beyond words - what I call “divine resonance”. Now I was working as a barista at Sacred Ground cafe in Soho, inside a Grade I listed church, serving speciality coffee to drag queens, tech workers and tourists. I kept thinking: What if theology could be as accessible as the culture people already love?

What if you could make theology collectible? Shareable? Something that actually resonates with daily life rather than staying locked in church buildings or academic textbooks?

Unexpected successes

That’s how Kairos Cards was born. Bilingual trading cards in English and Chinese that present biblical wisdom in the visual language of Pokémon and Magic: The Gathering. Each card features scripture, theological reflection, beautiful design - pocket-sized theology you can pull out during your commute, discuss over lunch or share with friends.

Let me be clear: these aren’t evangelism tracts. They’re not designed to boost church attendance. They’re an experimental project asking: Can we express biblical and theological ideas in formats that genuinely serve people where they actually are—at work, in cafés, on the tube, in their everyday routines? I printed the first batch with my own money and took them to Sacred Ground. I wasn’t sure what would happen.

Then something unexpected started. Teenagers who’d never touch a theological textbook were buying decks and discussing them over coffee. A local creative agency in Soho - the kind that does branding for major companies - asked to meet. Parents gave them to their children, who won’t engage with church but love collecting things. People told me: “I grew up as a Christian, but church language feels alien now. These cards give me a way back in that doesn’t feel weird.”

Here’s what I’m learning: Unlike the institutional pathway I expected, God had something else in mind for me. The quiet revival data is real - young people want substance, depth and transcendence. They’re just done with boring packaging and institutional gatekeeping.

I kept thinking: What if theology could be as accessible as the culture people already love?

I’m now raising funds to develop the next series, moving beyond biblical verses into wisdom from heavyweight theologians like Deitrich Bonhoeffer, Paul Tillich and Julian of Norwich. Cards about suffering, hope, doubt, meaning. Real questions people face Monday through Saturday, not just on Sunday morning. The vision is to build a pocket theology toolkit that makes centuries of Christian wisdom accessible, collectible and genuinely useful in daily life.

Right where you are

But honestly, what keeps me going isn’t the product. It’s the message: if you’ve studied theology and can’t find a traditional institutional role, you’re not a failure. You might be exactly where God wants you.

I’m a learner barista with a theology PhD who’s trying to test whether biblical wisdom can resonate with people’s actual daily lives through trading cards. And so far? Lives are changing - including mine.

If I can do this, you can too. Whatever your outside-the-box idea is, whatever doesn’t fit the institutional mold, maybe that’s exactly what this generation needs to encounter God in their everyday lives.