The present church was built between 1877 and 1879 to designs by the architect Fredrik Wilhelm Scholander, replacing Gärdhem's old 12th-century church, which stands roughly a kilometre away as a ruin near the former village centre. Construction began under the builder Pehr Thorssén, and the church was consecrated in August 1879. Originally the exterior was rendered white, but this render was removed in 1909, leaving the granite exposed as seen today.
Scholander's design shows the features typical of his church architecture, including a triple-divided ceiling and a rounded chancel vault with a triumphal arch. The interior retains much of its Gothic Revival character, with visible roof timbers giving a sense of the building's construction.
The altarpiece dates from a restoration in the early 1950s and is the work of the artist named in sources as either Arvid Brynth or Arvid Bryth (accounts differ on the spelling); it depicts the invitation of Christ to those weighed down by burdens. Chancel windows by Simon Sörman were added in 1952, alongside some older surviving glass. Texts from scripture running along the tops of the walls are original to the building and are arranged in pairs, contrasting the demands of the law with the words of the Gospel.
Several furnishings were brought from the old medieval church, including a limestone font dating from the 13th century and a pulpit donated in 1695 by Eleonora Oxehufvud. Of the church's bells, two are late medieval in origin; one carries an unexplained inscription of three roughly cut letters, while the other has a similarly blank inscription band, their original purpose now uncertain.
The organ, installed on the west gallery in 1948 by A. Magnusson Orgelbyggeri, is thought to reuse the case and some pipework from the church's original 1879 instrument.