Measurements of "Success"

Bill Easum, in a conference presentation this morning said that the church "beyond the box" will be more interested in "transforming the city" than "building a church."

That got me thinking about the kind of tools we will be using in our beyond the box churches to measure "success." Maybe tools like:

1) lower crime rates? 2) decreased homelessness? 3) reduced poverty? 4) higher literacy? 5) lower unemployment? 6) little clusters of believers in every apartment complex and neighborhood?

I can only imagine how exciting it would be to be a part of a community whose overall "health" was increasing purely as a consequence of the church being the church. But it would take two MAJORLY huge commitments on the part of the "beyond" leaders:

First, they would really need to love the Lord their God with all of their hearts and souls and strengths and minds...and

Second, they would really need to love their neighbors as themselves.

Give up our dreams of  parsonages and pensions? Let go of clerical collars and sterling silver collection baskets? Let our beds be the park benches with the reprobates and our securities rest in Christ alone?

This would be nothing less than radical...revolutionary, even.