The dating of Malma kyrka remains genuinely uncertain. The brick ornamentation on the facades, the buttresses and the three-sided chancel are typical of the late medieval period, suggesting a construction date towards the end of the 1400s. Yet the church's oldest furnishing, a font carved from Gotland limestone or sandstone, is thought to date from the 1200s or 1300s, leading some to argue the building itself may be older than the architectural evidence implies. Timber roof structures in the nave, of two distinct medieval types, along with older fabric found in the porch, have been cited as further support for an earlier origin, even though no medieval timber survives in the sacristy or bell tower.
The church was originally covered by a wooden ceiling. In the early 1500s, this was replaced by two star-ribbed vaults over the nave and a half-vault over the chancel, both of which carry painted decoration. A timber bell tower was added at the west gable in 1730.
Among the notable furnishings is a triumphal crucifix dating from the 1400s, along with a Baroque pulpit from 1686 and an altarpiece added in the 1700s. Two collection bags used in the church are dated 1767 and 1806, small but tangible traces of its long parish life.
The church organ has its own layered history: an instrument with nine stops was built in 1855 by E A Setterquist of Hallsberg, and the current pneumatic organ was built in 1937 by A. Magnussons Orgelbyggeri of Gothenburg, incorporating the façade of the earlier 1855 instrument.