The original parish church stood about seven kilometres south of the present site, a simple medieval wooden building. It had become too small for the growing congregation and was pulled down in the 1740s; an excavation in 1941 uncovered its foundations. For the new church, the parish engaged Christian Haller as master mason, who a few years earlier had overseen the building of Karlstad Cathedral.
The brick-built 18th-century church has a rectangular nave with a three-sided chancel, an attached sacristy to the east, and a west tower. The tower's spire and the porch-like extension in front of the south portal were added later, altering the exterior somewhat from its original Baroque form.
Inside, the church retains a strong 18th-century character, with ceiling paintings attributed to the Gothenburg painter Hans Georg Schüffner. The pulpit, carved in 1738 by the sculptor Isac Schullström, dates from the building of the present church.
Among the church's most notable possessions is the Glava Madonna, a wooden image of Mary carved in oak and dated to the 13th century, rescued from the earlier medieval church. It is considered one of the finest surviving examples of medieval religious art in Värmland, and remains a highlight for visitors today.
Glava kyrka lies along the Pilgrim Route in Western Värmland (Pilgrimsled i Västra Värmland), a regional walking route linking churches and historic sites.