The traditional founding date of 1607–1608 rests on a surviving report about a chapel-building project at Simojärvi, written in July 1607. Some historians believe that chapel may actually have stood at a different site, possibly near Siikajoki, a stream some ten kilometres south-east of the present church, where local tradition places the earliest churchyard. The exact early history therefore remains somewhat uncertain.
What is clearer is the building's growth over time. The central part of the church is the oldest surviving section, dating from around 1607. The present chancel and porch were added in 1726, when the church was substantially rebuilt, and the free-standing bell tower followed in the 1740s. The gallery and organ loft were completed in 1785, giving the church much of its current appearance. Major repairs took place in 1907 and again in 1953–1954; during the 1907 works the wooden floor was lifted, revealing 87 burial places beneath it.
The church's best-known feature is its altarpiece, a wooden triptych carved by the sculptor Bror Hjorth. Given to the church by the mining company LKAB, it was unveiled for the church's 350th anniversary in 1958. At its centre is a figure of Christ, while the side panels depict episodes from the life of the revivalist preacher Lars Levi Laestadius, who had strong local associations. Ahead of the altarpiece's unveiling, Hjorth also asked a local craftsman, Vilhelm Isaksson, to make a font using only an axe as a tool.
Other furnishings reflect the church's riverside setting and Sámi cultural context. A votive ship in the form of a rapids boat, of the kind once used to ferry passengers across the Torne river, was added in 2006 to mark the church's 400th anniversary. The current organ, built by Grönlunds Orgelbyggeri and inaugurated in 1997, has a case decorated by the artist Lars-Levi Sunna using birch, reindeer horn and tanned hide, with motifs drawn from Sámi mythology and Christian symbolism.