Portals of Prayer

Portals of Prayer is a quarterly publication of the Concordia Publishing House of St. Louis, Missouri, the denominational publisher for The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod with a printed circulation of almost 900,000 copies each quarter. The 4" x 6" publication consists of one-page daily devotions based upon a verse of Scripture along with suggestions for further reading of a Scripture and of a Psalm. Each devotion closes with a brief prayer. A separate section features prayers for the days of the week and occasional prayers covering liturgical and civic calendar events as well as for various situations. Each issue has a short prayer order that can be used by individuals, families, and small groups. Along with the prayer order are printed out Luther's Morning and Evening prayers, and meal-time prayers.

Writer are recruited each year in the Fall through recommendations, invitation made to previous writers, and application. Guidelines for writing samples can be requested (portalsATcphDOTorg). Prospective author's writing apart from these samples is never accepted for review by the editorial committee. Authors are selected from both clergy and lay Lutherans, mostly members of the LCMS, with a few contributors of the devotions and prayers coming from the Lutheran Church - Canada and ELS, which have a close association with the LCMS.

By editorial policy, the covers of the saddle-stitched booklets never depict people. Instead they usually feature photos of natural outdoor scenes.

The first issue of Portals of Prayer grew out of a topical devotional first published by CPH in 1937. The first 80 issues carried monthly themes. With issue 81, the name was adopted and it has been Portals of Prayer ever since.

Each quarter Portals of Prayer is made available not only in its regular English edition, but the magazine also takes other forms: online devotions; large print, Braille, and audio versions for the vision impaired; and beginning in 2008, a Spanish version.

The Editor of Portals of Prayer is Rev. Eric Forss S.T.M., MDiv (2002 -- ). The Managing Editor is Rev. Scot Kinnaman, Senior Editor at CPH (2003 -- ).

In 2007 the interior layout of the devotions was changed, the first significant change in the layout since its inception.

In 2008 the trim size changed to 4 1/8" x 6 1/2" to accommodate changes in printing technology. Again, this is the first time Portals changed its trim size since inception.

External links

* [http://www.cph.org/forms/portals.asp Portals of Prayer @ Concordia Publishing House]
* [http://www.lcms.org/pages/wPage.asp?IssueID=9&ContentID=49 Portals of Prayer Article in Mar. 2007 issue of The Lutheran Witness]

References

Portals of Prayer, Vol. 70, No. 395