The church was founded sometime around 1250 as a joint undertaking by both the Livonian Order and the Bishopric of Ösel-Wiek as a part of crusader efforts to Christianise Estonia.

The church was built at a strategic location, by a harbour of some importance and at a road connecting western Saaremaa with the rest of Estonia.

The interior is dominated by high, white-washed vaults.

In addition, the church has a fine organ and a carved epitaph dating from 1650 by a local carpenter, Balthasar Raschky.

Such free-standing belfries were once quite popular in Estonia, but today the one at Kihelkonna church is the only one surviving.