The Boy Scouts, which began in early 20th-century Britain, were reportedly founded by a British general to instill in young people the spirit and courage of reconnaissance units. In English, scout means “reconnaissance.” A reconnaissance unit infiltrates enemy territory, assesses the enemy’s strength, and then must return safely to its own camp with that information. For this, survival skills are absolutely essential. Camping in the Boy Scouts is training designed to develop those survival skills. However, the 25th World Scout Jamboree held in Saemangeum in August 2023 brought not survival skills but nightmares to 43,000 Scouts from 158 countries around the world.
The root cause of this nightmare was poor preparation and sloppy management. According to statistics, there were only 354 toilets available for 43,000 people over 12 days—meaning more than 120 people had to share a single toilet. Even then, many toilets were clogged, foul odors were rampant, and there were even traditional Korean pit latrines, making the sanitary conditions easy to imagine. With daily temperatures exceeding 35°C, there were far too few showers and air-conditioned facilities. Unable to endure the heat, unsanitary conditions, and insect bites, Scouts from the UK, the United States, and Singapore decided to withdraw early—a decision made to protect the youth.
As the situation became urgent, the government ultimately dispatched the Prime Minister to the site to address the problems head-on. It is said that the filthy toilets began to be cleaned only after the Prime Minister led by example and started scrubbing toilets covered with waste. His example did not stop there. He randomly inspected toilets and showers, identified places lacking toilet paper, soap, or trash bins, reprimanded those responsible, and ensured the problems were resolved. Literally, he “went to the lowest place.”
Christian leadership is servant leadership, and the core of servant leadership is altruism—meeting the needs of others rather than one’s own. Jesus came not to be served but to serve. However, it would be a mistake to conclude that the Prime Minister’s act of cleaning toilets itself constituted servant leadership. The most appropriate way for a Prime Minister to meet the needs of the Scouts would have been to see the big picture and ensure that the event was thoroughly prepared and properly executed through clear direction and supervision. To do this, he had ministers under him from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, along with a vast number of civil servants. In addition, there were numerous local officials, including the governor of North Jeolla Province, where the event was held. Yet the Prime Minister failed to get all these parties to share the same vision and move in a coordinated fashion. Even though he had conducted an on-site inspection two months before the event, the outcome was still disastrous—raising questions about what kind of “big picture” he reviewed and approved. If cleaning toilets—something anyone can do—by the Prime Minister is servant leadership, then can anyone be Prime Minister? If he were truly a servant, he should have faithfully fulfilled the responsibilities inherent to his role: leadership that ensures an event is meticulously prepared and smoothly executed.
What, then, is servant leadership for a pastor? It is not personally visiting every struggling congregant, holding their hands, praying for them, or even cleaning toilets. These are things any believer can—and should—do. Paul defines the pastor’s task as “equipping the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11–12). Training members in advance, assigning responsibilities, and enabling believers to minister to one another—that is the servant leadership expected of a pastor. If a pastor neglects this and instead tries to do all the visiting and serving alone, without mobilizing the congregation, that is not servant leadership but an absence of leadership and a serious dereliction of duty. Such practices only weaken the church and its ministry.
Furthermore, a pastor bears the grave responsibility of proclaiming the Word of the Lord within the church. Paul states that the purpose of Scripture is “to equip the servant of God for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:15–17). The purpose for which God gave us Scripture and the purpose for which He gave us pastors are the same. Therefore, there is no need to elaborate on how weighty the pastor’s role is as a proclaimer of the Word. To carry out this task faithfully, a pastor must exercise strict self-discipline, continually standing before God in study and prayer. This is the big picture of pastoral ministry and the servant leadership a pastor must demonstrate. Pastors would do well to reflect carefully on what servant leadership truly is, in light of the Prime Minister’s “service” seen during the Jamboree crisis.
When this does not happen, believers leave the church—just as allied nations withdrew early—and nightmares unfold.