It is the church for the Sel parish which is part of the Sør-Gudbrandsdal prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Hamar.

The church in Østre Gausdal was built on the Reidvoll farm around the year 1250.

It was originally a long church with a rectangular nave (about half as long as the present nave) and a narrower choir with a lower roof line and a sacristy on the north side of the choir.

[3][4] During the Northern Seven Years' War in 1567, the church was taken by the Swedish army and for a time, the building was used as a stable, and then it was later burned.

A new choir and sacristy was built on the east end of the newly enlarged nave.