It is the church for the Melhus parish which is part of the Gauldal prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Nidaros.

The gray, stone church was built in a cruciform design in 1892 using plans drawn up by the architect Carl Julius Bergstrøm.

[7] During this demolition in 1890, a perfectly preserved hatchet dating from about 1100 was discovered in a wall of the medieval church.

When Gerhard Schøning visited the old medieval church he noted this: "At the southern side of the entrance to the choir, there is an epitaph that Karen and Anders Helkands have erected to their parents and children".

The most well-known painting is one that has traditionally been considered to be a portrait of Petter Dass, a 17th-century Norwegian poet and hymn writer.

A few years ago, after some nearby churches were set on fire, there was a debate as to whether the portrait was secure enough.

[13] Some historians, however, believe that the subject of this famous portrait is not Petter Dass at all, but the clergyman Oluf Mentzen Darre.

In this book the author analyzed and investigated the painting, and came to the conclusion that the man depicted in this famous portrait is not Petter Dass.)

S. Gustavsen found it strange that the portrait is still shown on the Petter Dass Museum web site, commenting that to consider this painting to be a portrait of Petter Dass is the same as to still "believe that the earth is flat and the sun orbits the earth."

The museum itself cannot prove whether the portrait is of Petter Dass or not, and so they feature the debate on their web site.