Before 1881, it was the main church for the Gildeskål parish which is part of the Bodø domprosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland.

The medieval stone church originally had a rectangular nave and a narrower and almost square chancel with a lower roof line.

He received a commission as a painter in Bergen during 1744 and starting in 1751 he arrived in northern Norway, where he painted a number of church altarpieces.

Gottfried Ezekiel also painted the altarpiece that stands today in the new Gildeskål Church.

Each church parish was a constituency that elected people called "electors" who later met together in each county to elect the representatives for the assembly that was to meet at Eidsvoll Manor later that year.