When I came to college, I didn't have any real desire to get involved in Greek life. It looked like a lot of fun, and some of the best people I knew were super involved in it, but it wasn't really for me. So, I decided to rush a non-Greek Christian sorority.
To some people, the words "Christian Sorority" may seem like a paradox. There's no house, no crazy parties, and our chapter meetings always come with a Bible study. Many people are quick to tell me that mine is not a "real" sorority, and I'm really okay with that. I'm okay with it because, while the sorority may not be "real," the connections I've made are. Joining my sorority shattered my expectations of what friendships were supposed to be like, and taught me lessons I don't think I would have learned anywhere else.
Going into it, I was really intimidated by the girls I met, and I worried a lot about not being good enough or "Christian" enough to be there, despite being a Christian almost all my life. I was surrounded by girls I thought had it all figured out, and I was the broken one who had to catch up. There's a stigma, I think, with these organizations, and a lot people believe that those involved have a "holier than thou" attitude. Soon enough, I realized that this wasn't true. At all. The fact was, I was surrounded by girls who were just as broken as I was, and they all wanted to learn and grow together to become closer to Jesus.
Being a member in my sorority pushed me to grow in my faith, and it made me realize a lot of things about myself and about the God I serve. I realized just how much I struggled with accepting myself, but how loved and accepted I was by my sisters, and more importantly, by my God. I realized how incredibly difficult it is to love all people and intentionally seek out relationships. But through that, I see how blessed I am to serve a God that loves me always and intentionally seeks me out every day. Most of all, being in my sorority helped me realize that I wasn't alone, no matter how isolated I felt. Confessing my insecurities and my anxieties was almost always met with someone saying "Me too!" And even if that didn't happen, I would still have God to cry out to.
And eventually I realized...I didn't need my sorority. I love it, of course, but if it suddenly disappeared tomorrow, I'd be just fine because my identity is in Christ, not my organization.
So my Christian sorority isn't like other sororities, and it's not really supposed to be. It's supposed to be a part of my Christian community that pushes me closer to the Lord. We are all broken people, united by God. These girls are my sorority sisters, of course, but they are more importantly my sisters in Christ.