I recently attended a Book of Hope Celebration Dinner and the founder, Bob Hoskins, spoke about their taking the Book of Hope to China. He used Exodus 23:27-30 to illustrate why the door was not being opened to go there yet. Here it is:

Exodus 23:27-30(NIV) I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run. I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.

God is speaking about the Israelites going into the land that was promised to them. God said that if he drove all the inhabitants of that land out too soon, it would become desolate. Bob used this and said that God would wait until the right time to open the door to Book of Hope and He did. God waited until the foundation was built and everything was in place for the Book of Hope to be received by China.
How does this apply to how we operate our churches? Do we wait until people come before we start structuring for growth? Do we experience an emergency situation before we set up security measures?
Structure is a very important part in church growth and for this very reason, many small churches will remain small and churches with a forward vision will grow and flourish.
I use a few more quotes from Bob,

"God will not open the door until the church is ready to go through that door."
"God will not give the people the land until we have the structure and the organization to handle the people."

Can we not see that if we go along and just "play church", hoping that God will miraculously send people and the church will explode into a great God-honoring church of 500, 1000, 2000, or more, we are setting ourselves up for living in a church of 50 for the rest of our lives. We must structure our programs and ministries exponentially. We must be ready when the day comes that we get 15 kids in the nursery, we are set up with security to handle that and enough workers to legally care for these children. That means we have to know the laws about childcare, we have to have workers screened and trained about safety and security and there must be some sort of security system already in place and running.
Does that sound like your church, or are you just living week by week waiting to get more kids so that you can set up some sort of a system? I could give many more examples of growth structuring but I think that one is clear enough.
We must make the preparations and look forward to structure for growth. This is not a situation where living day by day is going to work. As you move forward in your faith and as you make the preparations, God will drive the enemy out and give you the land He promised you.
Plan to move forward. Live for growth!