I am currently reading Tim Keller’s Preaching book and something he quoted from British Literary Theorist Terry Eagleton made me think hard, “societies become secular not when they dispense with religion altogether, but when they are no longer especially agitated by it.” That quote caught my attention deeply, probably because I’ve lived on both sides of it.

For decades, I was in the finance world. I lived in the language of markets, money, targets, performance, strategy and I understood what it meant to build something, protect something, grow something. I’ am genuinely grateful for that season: God used it, God shaped me through it and God provided for my family through it.

But now, I’m in full-time ministry at Victory Makati, and I’m walking with people closer than ever—listening to their stories, carrying burdens, praying with leaders, preaching the Word, and seeing God transform lives in real time.

And here’s what I’ve realized: Urban Philippines is not lacking religion, but we may be losing agitation. We are not short on spiritual content, we are short on spiritual weight.

The Most Dangerous Secularism Is Not Atheism

When people hear the word secular, they imagine a country that rejects God, but Eagleton exposes something far more subtle… and honestly, far more dangerous.

A society becomes secular not when it forgets religion… but when religion no longer interrupts life. Not when faith disappears… but when faith becomes harmless.

In Metro Manila—Makati, BGC, Ortigas, Alabang—religion is everywhere:

• churches on every major road
• crosses in homes
• devotionals on phones
• prayer requests in group chats
• Bible verses in bios
• worship playlists in traffic

And yet, many people are no longer agitated by God. We are comforted by Him, we are inspired by Him, we are occasionally grateful to Him. But challenged? Confronted? Corrected? Disrupted? That’s different.

Metro Manila Doesn’t Need Less Religion

It needs more reality, because it’s possible to believe in Jesus and still live like God is a side feature.

We can attend church and still be anchored in money for security, we can pray and still be driven by fear, we can post Scripture and still be ruled by image.

We can worship on Sunday and still be discipled by the city from Monday to Saturday… and I’m not saying this as an outsider criticizing the culture but saying this as someone who lived in that current for years.

I understand the pressure, I understand the grind and I understand the temptation to keep achieving, keep proving, keep upgrading, keep moving.

The city has a way of shaping you—quietly, daily, consistently.

The City Has Its Own Liturgies

When people hear “religion,” they think rituals. But Metro Manila has rituals too, we just don’t call them spiritual.

We have the liturgy of:

• checking your phone before checking your heart
• measuring worth by productivity
• staying busy so you don’t have to deal with pain
• scrolling to numb anxiety
• spending to cope
• overworking to feel secure
• avoiding silence because silence exposes what’s really going on inside

These are not neutral habits, they shape us and over time, without even noticing, we become disciples: not of Christ, but of the city.

Religion Without Depth Becomes Background Noise

This is where Eagleton’s word agitated becomes really helpful.

To be “agitated” by something means you are:

• stirred
• confronted
• awakened
• unsettled
• compelled to respond

So maybe the question isn’t, “Is the Philippines religious?” because we obviously are. The question is, “Is Jesus still unsettling us?” Or have we learned how to keep Him at a safe distance?

Once religion becomes a routine, it stops being a relationship. Once faith becomes “normal,” it stops being transformative. Once God becomes familiar without being feared, we drift into a Christianity that is shallow… present, but powerless.

The Missing Piece: Deep Spiritual Conversations

Here’s what I believe we desperately need in the city:

We need to learn how to have deep spiritual conversations again, not the surface-level ones, not the usual:

• “Kamusta?”
• “Ok lang.”
• “Praying for you.”
• “God is good.”
• “Blessed.”

Those lines are not wrong, they’re just not enough because many people in the Metro are slowly dying inside while staying functional outside. They are succeeding publicly while struggling privately. They’re dealing with:

• anxiety and burnout
• emptiness despite achievement
• secret sin
• quiet disappointments
• marriage tension
• parenting fears
• loneliness in a crowded city
• spiritual dryness that no amount of “busy” can fix

And yet we rarely talk about it. Why? Because deep conversations are inconvenient, they take time, they require vulnerability and they demand honesty.

But shallow faith thrives in shallow conversations. If we never go deep, we will never grow deep.

We’ve Become Experts at Avoiding the Soul

One thing I noticed in the corporate world, and I still see it in the city:

We can talk about almost anything: business, politics, trends, investments, strategies, food, travel, sports but when it comes to the soul, we get awkward.

We don’t want to talk about:

• what we really fear
• what we really worship
• what we’re really addicted to
• what we’re really running from
• what we truly believe about God
• whether we’re actually okay spiritually

We have become “busy” but not “known”, connected, but not discipleship-deep.

We have a lot of conversations… but not enough that lead to confession, healing, repentance, and transformation and this is one reason society becomes secular: not because God is rejected, but because we stop taking Him seriously enough to talk about Him honestly.

The Church Must Be a Place Where Depth Is Normal

If we want Makati to be shaken by God again, the church cannot simply be a place of attendance. It must be a place of formation and formation doesn’t happen through content alone. It happens through community, through confession, through prayer, through discipleship and through people who love you enough to ask real questions.

We need circles where it’s normal to ask:

• “How is your soul, really?”
• “What is God teaching you lately?”
• “What are you anxious about?”
• “What are you tempted by these days?”
• “Where are you compromising?”
• “What truth are you struggling to believe?”
• “Have you been in the Word—or just in survival mode?”
• “Are you obeying God… or just admiring Him?”

That’s not small talk, that’s spiritual warfare and that’s how the city loses its grip on us.

Faith That Doesn’t Disturb You Won’t Change You

Here’s the truth I keep coming back to: If God never confronts you, you will never grow. If He never interrupts your greed, you’ll stay anxious. If He never challenges your pride, you’ll stay stuck. If He never exposes your idols, you’ll keep worshiping them.

The gospel is not meant to inspire us only. It’s meant to transform us.

Jesus doesn’t just give us better advice, He gives us a new life and transformation usually begins with a conversation. A moment of honesty, a confession you’ve been avoiding, a truth you finally admit out loud, a prayer you’ve been too proud to ask for.

A More Honest Prayer for the City

Maybe the prayer we need isn’t just: “Lord, bless this city.” Maybe it’s: “Lord, disturb this city.” Disturb our obsession with success, disturb our dependence on money, disturb our addiction to approval, disturb our numbness, disturb our compromise.

Then replace that disturbance with something deeper: A hunger for righteousness, a thirst for God, a courage to talk about what matters most. Because when Jesus is real, He doesn’t leave us neutral, He awakens us.

Reflection

I spent decades in finance. I understand the world of metrics and performance. But ministry is re-teaching me something I cannot forget: The greatest danger is not that we stop believing in God. It’s that we start living as though He doesn’t matter.

Metro Manila does not need less religion. It needs a deeper encounter with the living Christ. Not a Jesus we can fit into our calendar, but a King who reorders our life.

And one way that begins, very practically, is this: Let’s bring back deep spiritual conversations. Not as a church program, not as a forced activity but as a culture… a culture where we stop pretending, stop performing, stop hiding behind busyness and start being honest enough to say:

“I need Jesus.” “I’m struggling.”

“I need prayer.”

“I need someone to walk with me.”

“I want God—not just His blessings.”

Because the gospel isn’t background noise, it’s the voice that wakes us up and maybe that’s the mercy of God in this generation: that He is still willing to disturb us…so He can finally heal us.