It is the church for the Sunnylven parish which is part of the Nordre Sunnmøre prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Møre.

During the 15th or 16th centuries, the old stave church was expanded into a cruciform design by adding timber-framed transepts to the north and south sides of the nave.

Captain Ludolph Rolfsen from the nearby Stryn Municipality designed the church based on drawings by Hans Linstow.

[5][6][7] Playwright Henrik Ibsen visited Hellesylt in the summer of 1862[8] when this church was new and Sunnylven with Geiranger had just been named a separate prestegjeld (parish).

Ole Olsen Barman (born 1816),[9] was an inspiration for Ibsen's dramatic poem Brand.