Vemdalen has ancient origins as a settlement, and there may have been a small wooden chapel here as early as medieval times, though no trace of such a building has been confirmed. What is documented is that a small wooden church was built in 1624.
Sources differ slightly on how the present building came about. One account describes the current church as newly completed in 1763, built by master builder Olof Månberg from Jämtland. Another suggests the 1624 timber church was itself moved to its present site in 1763 and reconstructed there into its current elongated octagonal form, again under Olof Månberg. Either way, the octagonal church that stands today dates from this rebuilding.
The building is covered by a steep hipped roof, with a central ridge turret and spire clad in wooden shingles. A separate onion-domed bell tower stands nearby, said to have been erected in 1755, predating the present church.
Inside, the high ceiling and eight large windows create a bright, spacious impression typical of many eighteenth-century Norrland churches, in contrast to the more solemn architectural and painted interiors common in southern and western Sweden of the period. The octagonal plan and the eight windows have been interpreted as symbolic of the kingdom of heaven, with the number seven traditionally linked to the days of creation and eight to the eternal day beyond.
Among the furnishings are a chancel screen from 1810, an altarpiece dated 1770, and three brass chandeliers, one of which dates from the seventeenth century. The organ, built in 1919 by Åkerman & Lund, has seven stops across two manuals and pedal.