By Luisa Banchoff
– – –
The 2025 G20 Interfaith Summit was a day away, and the main stage was being set up in the ballroom of Cape Town’s Westin Hotel. But in the room next door, a gathering was already well underway: fifty-five young people, representing 25 countries and 15 faiths, came together for this year’s Youth Interfaith Forum (YIF20), “Leading with Ubuntu: At the Heart of Interfaith Action.” The forum was hosted by A Common Word Among the Youth (ACWAY), the global youth partner of the IF20, in collaboration with The Stirling Foundation, United Religions Initiative, Charter for Compassion, and The Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers.
Storytelling emerged as a central theme of the day, guided by the question: “Why does storytelling matter”? In sharing how their faith, identity, and experiences have propelled them into interfaith and intercultural activism, forum delegates provided many answers to the question. Storytelling matters because it helps us understand how facets of identity intersect and overlap in shaping their experience. Storytelling matters because it helps build a common language among people of different faiths and cultures. Storytelling matters because it strengthens the muscle of compassion, not just to treat others as you wish to be treated, but to understand how they wish to be treated.
But telling stories is about more than lending voice to one’s experience or getting to know another person. In session after session, delegates connected storytelling to action. During a session exploring the Charter for Compassion, delegates discussed how compassion is not just a feeling but an action to alleviate suffering. The centrality of action was likewise reflected in delegates’ discussions about their own work, which is shaped by the Interfaith Development Goals. These goals were developed by ACWAY to reflect how religious, spiritual, and interfaith groups, communities, and leaders contribute to building peace around the world. In a presentation to the group, Rodge Lelis, an ACWAY Fellow who specializes in faith-sensitive Mental Health and Psychosocial Support, emphasized that “everyone has a story, and you have to dignify their story.” Storytelling is a form of action: it is dynamic and outward bound, listening to and amplifying the voices of others.
It was fitting that the forum’s concluding session focused on calls to action. Focusing on the IF20’s five priority areas, delegates practiced pitches to local, regional, and national leaders: to invest in sustainable agriculture, support local interfaith and religious projects addressing poverty, and elevate grassroots decision-making over climate adaptation and mitigation projects. These calls will doubtless echo at the G20 Interfaith Forum in the coming days, as these young leaders continue turning their stories into action.
– – –
Luisa Banchoff served as a research and report writer for the World Faiths Development Dialogue. She graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University with a B.A. in religion and earned a master’s degree in social anthropology from the London School of Economics.