The way Lutheran Synods develop "sister" synods in Africa

As an example, Mission work was begun in Tanzania by a number of European Lutheran groups, especially German and Swedish in the late 1840s. American Lutheran work began in 1922 when the Augustana Synod sent Ralph Hult to the former Tanganyika.

By 1938 there were seven Churches in Tanganyika. That year the Churches founded a federation known as the Federation of Lutheran Churches in Tanganyika, which brought together seven churches. On June 19, 1963, the seven Churches (each of which had been established by Lutheran mission work from Europe or the U.S.A.) under the umbrella of a federation, merged to become a single Church, known today as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania.

In 1963 the ELCT had 400,000 baptized members, but by 2003 had grown to over 2.5 million becoming one of the largest Lutheran churches in the world! It is led by a presiding bishop and twenty diocesan bishops. The following year (1964) the United Republic of Tanzania was formed by the union of the republics of Tanganyika (home of Mt. Kilimanjaro) and of Zanzibar.

The Metropolitan NY Synod and Tanzania; The New Jersey Synod and Namibia
Many synods in the ELCA have formed “sister” relationships with dioceses within the ELCT or the ELCRN. The Metropolitan NY Synod has its counterpart in the North Western synod which abuts Lake Victoria, while the New Jersey Synod's "Sister Synod" is the
Ev. Luth. Church in the Republic of Namibia (ELCRN).