The article focuses on popular conceptions about the Lutheran Church and its sacredness in the 19th century Finnish folk belief tradition. Folklore materials from Lutheran Finland show explicit opposition between the local and Christian conceptions especially in the areas of otherworldly  imagery, ethical principles, and authority. Archived interviews and written reminiscences about Christian customs indicate a strong legacy of Lutheran orthodoxy, but belief legends and ritual descriptions show a more ambiguous relationship between the official and vernacular. In Church life, sacredness was constructed by ritual behaviour, which reflected the parishioners' conformity to the Church. The Church was the core of shared values and sacred order. I folk belief tradition, in turn, the domestic sphere was the centre of values. The Church represented ambiguous otherness; both a blessing and a threat. Christian symbols gave protection from other worldly threats, but in some contexts, the Church itself was approached with protective rituals. Belief narratives described its supernatural character which could be fatal to visitors especially at night. Portrayed as contagious and teeming with little beings in folk belief tradition, the church building belonged to the folk paradigm of otherness together with the wilderness and underworld.