Before 1951 the parish was known as Båraryd församling, and the older mother church still stands in Båraryd. Construction of a chapel in the growing community of Gislaved began in 1904, to designs by the architect Ludvig (Ludwig) Petersson. The chapel was consecrated in 1906.
In 1935 the building was enlarged according to drawings by Malte Erichs, becoming Gislaveds kyrka proper. During this extensive renovation, decorative paintings were added to the ceiling, the chancel wall, the pulpit and the gallery front, the work of the artist Axel Wallert.
The church is orientated east-west, with its tower to the east and the chancel to the west—a reversal of the more usual arrangement in older Swedish churches. A further major renovation took place in 2018, when the roof was replaced, the brick walls were repointed, the sacristy floor was renewed, and an extension was added beside the main entrance.
Among the furnishings is a green marble font with a silver bowl, presented to the church in 1940, and the present altar dates from a 1984 renovation. A carillon of 24 bells hangs in the tower. The church also has two organs: a main organ built in 1980 by Olof Hammarberg of Gothenburg, replacing an earlier 1935 instrument by Lindegrens Orgelbyggeri, and a smaller chancel organ built in 1997 by Ålems orgelverkstad.