How do you measure church success? By the number of attenders? The number of ministries it supports? The size of its staff? Or budget? How much press it gets?
Paul in 2 Corinthians 3 is following his comment about not making a profit on the ministry with challenging the Corinthians to answer how they determine success. He's already said that success isn't determined by a lack of suffering (ch. 1), nor by being in control and making your own ministry decisions. Success is only determined by whether God is revealed and lives are changed.
This is why he makes them look at their own church. They are the most near (themselves, actually) example of his ministry. "Hey, church at Corinth, you want to know if Paul is being used by God? Look at your own church and how it got started."
It is a cause for boldness that the church is alive and well. Paul's letters of commendation are the Corinthians, people who can talk and walk around the city to people there and passing through. They can move to other regions to spread the good work. They are not like the tablet stones Moses brought down from the mountain. They were static and in one place at a time. If you wanted to know Moses' credentials, you had to look at his face after an encounter with God (and then it was veiled because of its radiance) or look at the tablets written by God given to Moses. In Paul's case, you see the people and their changed lives. Nothing can stop a testimony that is so dynamic, fluid, mobile and courageous.
We have a revelation of God by seeing how He has interacted with His people in our times. This is a cause for boldness.
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