Rørstad Church

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Rørstad Church is a historic wooden church in the isolated village of Rørstad, Sørfold Municipality, Nordland, Norway. It is part of the Church of Norway, within the Sørfold parish in the Salten deanery of the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland. The white church has a cruciform shape and can seat about 300 people. It was built in 1761 to serve the entire Sørfold parish.

The site has church history going back to at least 1589. In 1661 the old church was in bad condition and was rebuilt; the new cruciform church with a central steeple was consecrated in 1665. In 1761 a new church was built at Rørstad to serve the parish from the fjord-side location, which made it a key church for a long time because boats could easily reach it along the Sørfolda fjord.

Near the end of the 19th century roads arrived, but Rørstad still had no road connection. In 1880 the decision was made to move the main church to be along the new road network, and in 1883 the old church at Rørstad was closed. A new Røsvik Church was built nearby to replace it. Since then, Rørstad has few permanent residents and is mainly a summer cottage area. The church is no longer used regularly, only for special services a couple of times each summer, and has not been in regular use since 1883. It is protected as a Norwegian Cultural Heritage Site (ID 85341).