[1] His emphasis on communal living led to the foundation of the Metropolitan Methodist Mission, which supported the Burning Bush Colony in Texas.
[1] His father Daniel Harvey "was a deliveryman in Chicago, and supplemented his income each summer by selling household products, such as cooking utensils, to downstate farm families."
[1] The mission offered cooking and sewing classes and a tent revival was held, in which five hundred people approached the altar and prayed at the mourner's benches there.
[1] The Sunday School directed by Edwin Harvey had a weekly average attendance of 800 children, with many being immigrants of Norwegian, Swedish and German backgrounds.
[1] There, Gertrude Harvey offered to sell her home and donate the proceeds to the Metropolitan Church Association;[1] she sold her wedding ring, silk dresses, and fancy hats as well.
[1] Many of those who sold their homes moved to the Bible college, which was the initial thing that helped in the formation of the communitarian character of the Metropolitan Church Association.