“Rest on the Flight to Egypt,” from the Matthaus Evangelium. From the collection

of Edward and Diane Knippers. By Otto Dix.

Five Talents International, a ministry which aims to “to fight poverty, create jobs and transform lives by empowering the poor in developing countries using innovative savings and microcredit programs, business training and spiritual development,” is sponsoring an art auction beginning ing Monday, Oct. 16.

“A Helping Hand: Artists’ Exhibition and Sale,” is an online silent art auction, with the proceeds devoted toward the creation of the Knippers Eduation Fund. The newly established fund will “provide scholarships for the next generation of church leaders, missionaries and poor entrepreneurs, who are living or working in developing countries, with business and management tools needed to transform munities and churches.”

The fund is named in memory of Diane Knippers, a Five Talents founding board member who coined the organization’s name and president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy. Time magazine named Diane one of the 25 most influential evangelicals in the United States in 2005.

Here’s the agenda for the auction:

Starting Monday, Oct. 16, bids for paintings, sculptures and original prints will be accepted online at www.fivetalents.org. Featured art will include the works of nationally recognized artists such as Sandra Bowden; Tim Botts; Tanja Butler; Bruce Herman; Ed Knippers; Dean Larson; Nathaniel Mather; Dorsey McHugh; Sam Nash; John Olsen; Ted Prescott; Karen Swenholt; and David Zuck, among others. Works by Marc Chagall, Otto Dix, and a page from the Nuremberg Chronicle will also be included.

The online auction will close at 5 p.m. EST on Friday, Nov. 10 and culminate with a silent auction and reception on Saturday, Nov. 11, at the Foxhall Gallery, 3301 New Mexico Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. The auction and reception will be from 5:30 to 9 p.m.

More details are available here.