# Generations

> See whether the people your church walks with are now walking with others, as lines of names from one generation to the next. Pastors only, with no score on anyone.

For: Pastor, Admin, Owner
Canonical: https://giftwell.app/docs/generations

**Generations** answers one question: *are the people we walk with now walking with others?* Paul walked with Timothy, who was to pass it on to faithful people, who would teach others too (2 Timothy 2:2). That makes four generations. This page shows those lines in your church.

It appears under **Walking** for pastors, admins and owners once [Walking with](/docs/walking-with) is on.

![Generations: the whole church as rings of generations, one person walking with the same two people for over a year, and the lines below.](/docs-img/generations.png)

## What counts

A line is made from two kinds of pairs:

- **Walks your church set up**, once both people said yes. Walks that have ended still count. Someone who was walked with last year was still walked with.
- **Pairs people reported** on "Who are you walking with?", once both people said yes. See [The Web](/docs/the-web).

Some things never count: a walk or pair still waiting for a yes, a pair someone said "not really" to, and a pair either person ended. Ending a reported pair deletes it, so it leaves no trace. A reported pair that became a full walk counts once.

## Reading the page

- **Walking with someone**: how many people walk with someone now, or have before.
- **Multiplying**: how many of those have seen someone they walked with go on to walk with another person.
- **Deepest line**: how many generations the longest line reaches, and how many people are at each generation.

## The whole church

The circle shows every line at once. The church sits in the middle, the first ring is the people at the top of each line, and each ring out is the next generation. A wedge is as wide as everyone below that person, so lines that keep passing it on take up the most room. A **gold edge** marks someone whose disciples now walk with others. Lines that haven't reached a second generation share one grey wedge.

**Click a wedge** to put that person in the middle and see their whole branch; the trail above the circle steps back out, and **Open their branch** shows it as a list. The circle never grows, shows four generations at a time, and names a wedge only where the name fits. Hover or tab to a wedge to read its name.

## The lines

**Lines** starts each line with someone nobody here walks with. Below them are the people they walked with, and below each of those, the people *they* walked with. Each name says when the pair began, and **Ended** marks a walk that is over. Lines are sorted by how far they reach. With more than 20 lines, search finds a name.

If two people walk with each other, the line shows each of them once and stops there.

## Several people, either way

People are often walked with by more than one person, such as a group leader and a mentor, and many walk with several people. Each person is drawn in full **once** on the page, under whoever comes first. Beside their name, **also with** names the others who walk with them. Anywhere else they appear, they take a single row that says where their branch is, so nobody and nothing below them is counted twice. The numbers at the top count each person once too.

**Click any name** to put that person at the center. You'll see everyone who walks with them, however many, and every generation below them. **Their page** opens their profile, and **All lines** goes back.

## The same people for a year

This list names someone when all of these are true:

- they have walked with the same people for more than a year,
- they started walking with nobody new in that year, and
- none of the people they walk with walks with anyone yet.

It is not a mark against anyone. Some people need a long season. It is a question to ask over coffee: *who could the people you walk with start walking with?* It goes away once they start walking with someone new, or once one of the people they walk with starts walking with someone.

## Privacy and safeguards

- **Pastors, admins and owners only.** Leaders do not see this page, and nobody on it is told it exists.
- **No score on a person.** There is no "effectiveness" number, no ranking of people, and no total next to anyone's name. A line's depth describes the line, not the person at the top.
- **Only who walked with whom, and since when.** Nothing they said to each other, no question, no moment and no words written between them reach this page.
- **The Web settings do not change it.** Like Walking with, it shows every agreed pair to your pastors, whether or not those people show in [The Web](/docs/the-web). Members never see these lines.
- **Erasing someone** removes them from every line.