The building of a new church at Pjätteryd was long delayed. The old medieval wooden church had been condemned as unfit for use as early as 1816, but disputes among parishioners meant nothing was done for years. It took the intervention of Bishop Esaias Tegnér in 1830, who insisted the parish provide a church in a dignified condition, to break the deadlock. Construction finally began in 1833 under master builder L. Carlsson of Sölvesborg, to designs by the architect Samuel Enander, and the finished church was consecrated in 1841.
The result is a light, spacious building typical of its period, built in a restrained Empire style. Tall round-arched windows fill the interior with light, and the nave ends in a chancel wall concealing the sacristy behind it. The tower carries a lantern of the period, topped with a cross, and inside the eye is drawn to an elaborate altar arrangement surrounding the altarpiece.
Among the church's furnishings are two striking survivals from the earlier medieval building: a triumphal crucifix and an image of the Madonna dating from the 14th century. These give a tangible link to the church that stood on the site before 1841. From the old church also came an altarpiece depicting the Institution of the Eucharist, made in 1731 by Sven Segervall of Växjö.
The present altarpiece dates from 1877 and shows Christ at the age of twelve in the temple, painted by the professor and artist Bengt Nordenberg, who also contributed grisaille side panels depicting Moses and the apostle John. A round pulpit with a sounding board, decorated with symbolic ornament, completes the furnishings of the chancel area.
The church has had a succession of organs. The first, installed in 1854, was built by Johan Magnus Blomqvist of Virestad; it was replaced in 1932 by an instrument from A. Mårtensson's Orgelfabrik of Lund, and again in 1979 by a mechanical organ built by Västbo Orgelbyggeri of Långaryd.