The FLEX method is a simple way to help someone pursue God through conversation. It has three steps: Find a topic, Learn about it on your own, and EXplore it together in conversation. Instead of one person teaching while everyone else listens, FLEX prepares each person ahead of time so a parent, mentor, friend, or small group can talk honestly about God’s truth and grow together.
Find a Topic Worth Talking About
Every good conversation starts with something worth talking about. The first step is to choose a topic that fits the people you’re with and the season they’re in. Maybe your teenager has questions about dating, a friend is wrestling with doubt, or your small group wants to understand prayer better. Picking a focused question gives the conversation a clear starting point and keeps it from wandering.
PursueGOD’s topic library was built for exactly this. Each topic includes a short article that lays out the main ideas, discussion questions to get people talking, and related topics to help you choose what to talk about next. You don’t have to invent a curriculum from scratch. You just have to pick a place to start.
Proverbs 20:5 The purposes of a person’s heart are deep waters, but one who has insight draws them out.
People carry deep questions, hurts, and hopes that rarely come out in small talk. A good topic works like a bucket lowered into that well. It gives people permission to share what’s really going on, and it gives you a chance to draw out what’s in their hearts with wisdom and patience.
Learn About It on Your Own First
The second step rests on a simple idea: learning something on your own before you talk about it makes the conversation better for everyone. When each person has already read the article and thought through the questions, nobody has to spend half the time catching up. You arrive with your own observations, your own questions, and maybe even a few disagreements to work through.
This kind of preparation has deep roots in Scripture. When Paul preached in the town of Berea, the people there didn’t just take his word for it. They opened the Scriptures and checked his message for themselves.
Acts 17:11 Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
That’s the posture FLEX encourages. You don’t have to agree with every sentence in an article, but treating it as a starting point and testing it against God’s Word will get you ready for a conversation that actually goes somewhere. Preparation isn’t about becoming an expert. It’s about showing up ready to engage.
Explore It Together in Conversation
The third step is where life change tends to happen. When you’re ready, get together with your friends, family, mentor, or group and talk it over. Invite someone to set up the conversation by summarizing the topic in their own words, then work through the discussion questions together. The resources get the conversation on track and then get out of the way.
God designed us to grow in community, not in isolation. Ideas that stay in our heads rarely change our lives, but ideas we talk through with people we trust start to take root. A friend notices something you missed, a mentor asks the follow-up question you were avoiding, and suddenly the truth becomes personal.
Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.
Sharpening only happens through contact. That’s why conversation is so valuable: it gives people a safe place to process what they’re learning, ask honest questions, and make well-informed decisions about how to follow Jesus. And it works everywhere, from the dinner table to the break room. In marriage, for example, healthy couples keep talking, and the same is true for friendships, families, and groups.
Help Someone Pursue God Through the Next Conversation
The beauty of the FLEX method is the next conversation. One good discussion naturally leads to another topic, another question, and another chance to grow. Over time, these conversations add up to something bigger: a biblical worldview shaped alongside people you trust.
FLEX also turns ordinary believers into disciple-makers. Once you’ve experienced a great conversation, you can invite someone else into one. Paul gave his young friend Timothy this same vision for passing the faith along.
2 Timothy 2:2 And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.
Notice the chain of relationships in that verse: Paul to Timothy, Timothy to reliable people, and those people to others. You don’t need a seminary degree to be part of that chain. You just need to find a topic, learn about it, explore it with someone, and then invite the next person in.
The Takeaway
The FLEX method is a simple way to help someone pursue God: Find a topic, Learn about it on your own, and EXplore it together in conversation. When people prepare ahead and talk honestly about God’s truth with people they trust, real growth happens, and every conversation opens the door to the next one.
