The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1327, but it was not new at that time. The first church building in Sande was likely a wooden
stave church that was likely built during the 13th century. Around the year 1620, the medieval church was torn down and replaced with a new
timber-framed long church on the same site. The
nave of the new church measured and the
chancel was about . In 1814, this church served as an
election church (). Together with more than 300 other parish churches across Norway, it was a polling station for elections to the 1814
Norwegian Constituent Assembly which wrote the
Constitution of Norway. This was Norway's first national elections. 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. In 1861, there were two small landslides that came down off the mountain just north of the church. Both landslides were stopped by the rock walls on the border of the
graveyard which surrounded the church, thus saving the church from damage. In 1864, the old church was torn down and replaced with a new church building on the same site. The new church was designed by
Hans Linstow and it was built during 1864 and
consecrated on 5 December 1864. The church
nave measured , nearly double the length of the older church. Originally, the
choir was in the same room as the
nave, giving the church a
rectangular design. In 1865 a new
sacristy was built on the east end of the
nave. In the 1943–1944, the church was significantly rebuilt using drawings by
Johan Lindstrøm. The
sacristy was converted into the choir and a new sacristy was constructed on the south side of the new choir, giving the church a
long church design. ==See also==