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John Spreeman may not have been the very first of the pioneers to come to Quebec but he was the first such to arrive from New Testament assemblies in Ontario which, for many years, had so loyally supported the work in francophone Quebec. Born in 1901 and converted at the age of fourteen, he early on manifested a desire to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Concerned for the spiritual plight of French Canadians, he applied himself to learn the French language. At the same time, he became involved in the activities of his local assembly, Pape Avenue Gospel Hall in Toronto which would eventually become Victoria Park Gospel Hall. This assembly was the outgrowth of the labours of Scottish brethren such as Donald Munroe and others who had evangelized and planted assemblies in southern and central Ontario beginning in the late 1800s.
On the very last day of December 1926, Mr. Spreeman, virtually unknown, arrived in Montreal, commended to the work by the above-named assembly. He was welcomed with open arms by brethren atat [[Ogilvy Gospel Hall]], where he found himself surrounded by a significantly large number of believers who continued to be an encouragement for him throughout his many years of labour in the province.
In an unpublished article entitled ''Early Days in Quebec'', Mr. Spreeman recounts his conversion and call to serve the Lord among French Canadians:
We know relatively little about his earliest activities in Quebec. In addition to applying himself assiduously to the learning of the French language, he apparently spent those early years in colportage work around the province, giving out tracts and New Testaments and sharing the gospel with any and all who would lend a listening ear. He spent a good deal of time in Montreal itself. Perhaps it was at this time that he worked to organize tract bands in the neighbouring province of Ontario, involving believers, both young and old, in mailing gospel tracts to persons in Quebec whose names and addresses were culled from telephone directories. As a result of requests being sent in for New Testaments which this literature offered, thousands of these were sent out by a Montreal brother, Mr. W. R. Atkinson.
It was in March 1933, that he, along with fellow-worker, [[Noah Gratton]], arrived in Girardville, in the northern Lake Saint-Jean region of the province. This would be the principal scene of his labours throughout most of the rest of his life. They were not well-received and soon found themselves kidnapped and driven out of town. The story is admirably recounted by Edgar Doucet in his work, ''La Déliverance''. In spite of threats, the two men were back again the following year, at which time the first French assembly in the province was established at Girardville, sometimes referred to as Albanel in the pages of [[News of Quebec|''News of Quebec'']].
Three years later another francophone assembly was begun on Masson Street in the Rosemount section of Montreal and in 1941, Mr. Spreeman was also instrumental in the beginnings of a third assembly at Rollet, in northwestern Quebec. These were the only French-speaking assemblies in existence in Quebec until after the war.
