It is the main church for the Ogndal parish which is part of the Stiklestad prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Nidaros.

[1][2] It is not known exactly when the first church was built at Skei, but in existing historical records from 1490 "Skeide Sokn" is mentioned, and Olav Engelbrektsson has in its Domesday Book from 1533 referred to the farm "church Skeiid".

Skei Church is mentioned in connection with the will of the Crown (the King's property) by the Reformation (1536).

Skei means "contest or the event center," which probably suggests something about the use, even if the site is not known as a place of worship.

Over the next 75 years, the church was owned in turn by Casper Heirich von Westerwald (1735-1772), Andrew Bull (owner for only two days), Jorgen Urne Westerwaldt (1772-1776), Theodore Bergmann Holst (1776-1786), and David Andrew Gram (1786-1803).