About Our Church

The pale blue clapboard church building with its pointed-arch windows and clock steeple, seen from the road. — The church has stood at the crossroads in Rupert since the 1880s.

A brief history

Organized in 1883

Organized in 1883, with its first services held in 1884, Rupert United Methodist Church began life as a Methodist Episcopal Church. Since then, the church’s life has been tied in with the life of the Rupert communities.

With a historic pipe organ and its natural finished interior, the Rupert church is an architectural gem whose congregation has a long-held mission of caring, salvation and openness.

Today

A small town, and a wide-open door

Being nestled in a small Vermont town has two sides.

On the plus side, Southwest Vermont is blessed with an abundance of God’s natural beauty, kind loving people, and a sense of community that is often lacking in larger metropolitan areas.

On the other hand, Vermont is the “least churched” state in the union, and Rupert United Methodist Church, like all churches in the area, is faced with the challenge of bringing people into God’s family, no matter what the social climate.

We offer a church family. People who care. A place to heal, grow, learn, worship and serve in an atmosphere of acceptance. You won’t get lost here. You will only be loved.

God’s word, God’s love and God’s promises never lose relevance. His word is transformational. His promises are eternal. His love is unconditional. Our mission is to nourish our own and embrace God’s people throughout our home, and our world, to bring them into God’s family.

Our people

Who you will meet

Two people lead worship here each Sunday. Both are easy to reach — a phone call or an e-mail is genuinely welcome.

Rev. Dr. Tom Atkins

Pastor

A bi-vocational pastor serving two congregations, Rupert and Rutland. He came to Rupert as supply pastor in September 2013 and was appointed here on July 1, 2015.

Jeff Linebeck

Organist and Choir Director

Jeff directs the choir and plays for our Sunday worship.

More about our pastor

Rev. Dr. Tom Atkins

Tom Atkins graduated from Virginia Tech with a BA in English, minoring in Drama, History and Communications. He holds an MA in Creative Writing from Hollins University, and a D.Div. from Christian Bible College and Seminary.

Atkins is a bi-vocational pastor, and serves two churches: Rupert Methodist and Rutland Methodist. He has been an integral part of three start-up divisions and systems integration companies — The Whitlock Group, TGS (later bought by Ascent Media) and Diversified Systems — designing and project managing television and other broadcast and A/V facilities throughout the U.S. In 2011, Atkins founded Quarry House, which works with businesses and individuals.

Raised in the Methodist Church, and an ordained deacon in the Baptist Church since 1984, Atkins has preached and taught at churches in many denominations, with a particular focus on teaching and leading people to understand and develop their spiritual gifts. After moving to West Pawlet, Vermont in 2009, he began attending Rupert United Methodist Church, and began as supply pastor there in September 2013. He began the process of becoming a licensed United Methodist pastor in 2014, completing that work in 2015, and was appointed officially to Rupert United Methodist Church as of July 1, 2015. He was later also appointed to Rutland United Methodist Church in July of 2024.

Tom is also a published poet, a freelance writer of marketing copy, magazine articles, fiction, non-fiction and essays, as well as an artist and photographer.

Rev. Dr. Tom Atkins, pastor of Rupert United Methodist Church. — Pastor Tom Atkins. Call (802) 645-0499 or write to [email protected].

Explore our history

Two survivors from 1884

Much of the building’s original fabric is still working. Both of these have their own page.

Close-up of the stencilled red, gold and olive pipes of the 1884 Johnson & Son organ.

Our pipe organ

An 1884 Johnson & Son opus 629, hand-pumped until the late 1920s and still almost entirely original — with the pumpers’ names pencilled inside the door.

Read the organ’s story