As the day she would graduate from Pfeiffer University neared, Reverend Meg Gaston Peters ’13 revealed to a student friend on campus that she no longer wanted to teach math, having majored in that subject while minoring in secondary education. The friend wasn’t surprised. She told Peters that “We’ve all known that for a while. We just didn’t think it would take you this long to realize it.”

Fortunately, Peters had other options. She had participated in Pfeiffer’s Campus Ministries program and in several Pfeiffer-organized mission trips abroad, during spring or summer breaks. She envisioned serving the United Methodist Church (UMC) in various capacities, not only in her native North Carolina but also outside the United States.

“Pfeiffer created in me the spirit of not just traveling, but also experiencing God and religion in different places,” she said. “I became interested in seeing how different people worship and what that means to them.”

Peters’ post-Pfeiffer experiences bear this out. Before earning a master’s degree in Divinity/Ministry from the Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, N.J., she served as a Global Mission Fellow for UMC’s Global Ministries programs in South Korea and Japan.

And when her current tenure as Associate Minister of Outreach at Centenary United Methodist Church in Winston-Salem, N.C. ends this summer, she’ll begin a five-year term as a Minister for the British Methodist Church, which has a formal program for appointing “Ministers from Other Churches” into its pastoral ranks. She will be responsible for four churches in the Cleveland & Danby Methodist Circuit, most in Redcar, a seaside town on the Yorkshire Coast in northeastern England.

The British Methodist Church says it “benefits greatly from the gifts and fresh perspectives that are brought into its ministry by those who have come to faith, been ordained, and served in other Conferences and Churches.” Peters’ background certainly aligns with this sentiment:

Part of a Pfeiffer Pfamily — Grady Gaston, her brother, became a Pfeiffer graduate in 2012 — she chose to attend Pfeiffer because of its “small-is-beautiful” culture and because Grady’s unreserved enthusiasm for the University made it feel like a good choice.

During her time at Pfeiffer, she would make three mission trips. The first, just after her freshman year ended, was to Cuba, the others to Guatemala and Kenya. All of these journeys made for eye-opening adventures that would encourage Peters to do something similar after graduating from Pfeiffer.

During the trip to Cuba, for example, Peters and her Pfeiffer classmates dug footings for several water towers and painted an apartment building that housed retired ministers. They also got a taste of how many Cubans worshipped in a Communist state, namely in small churches attached to homes.

Along the way, Peters soaked up an atmosphere that was utterly “unlike anything” she had experienced before. This featured everything from armed guards on the roads to the prevalence of vintage Fords and other classic American cars (a result of the U.S. trade embargo after the Cuban Revolution). Workers, lacking parts or wood supplies, often resorted to “tearing stuff down to build something new.”

Dr. Phil Wingeier-Rayo, a Professor of Religion at Pfeiffer when Peters was a student, was part of the mission trip to Cuba as well. He isn’t surprised at the international turn her career in ministry has taken.

“Meg is well suited for international travel because she is naturally curious and adventurous,” he said. “She enjoys encountering people and new contexts. She has bountiful energy and an electric smile that connects with people.” There’s no doubt that Peters will continue to utilize her ability to connect with people on this next big ministry adventure.