Rya kyrka owes its existence to the arrival of the Västkustbanan railway, which brought a station and a growing seaside community to Frillesås. As the parish church lay some distance away, services began to be held in a hired room in Rya during the 1930s, and a fundraising campaign for a proper chapel started in 1936.
The original chapel was built by a local master builder to designs by architect Gustaf Ljungman, paid for with donated funds though built under the parish's auspices. The first service was held on Christmas Day 1936, with the formal inauguration following in December 1937. An organ from Tostareds Kyrkorgelfabrik was installed in 1952.
By the 1960s the chapel had become too small for the growing congregation. In the 1970s a larger church hall was added, designed by architect Pelle Nilsson, while the original chapel building was converted into a parish hall. The new church and parish hall were inaugurated in 1975 by Bishop Bertil Gärtner. The extension has a modernist character, with a steeply sloping roof over a square plan; children's and youth rooms are housed beneath the church hall.
Inside, visitors can see an altarpiece painted in 1956 by Saga Walli, depicting the narrow path through the cross to glory, along with a silver christening bowl bearing a gilded Christ monogram and a wooden relief of the Last Supper said to have been bought in Rome. A wooden crucifix is mounted on the church's eastern façade.
A freestanding bell tower stands on the hillside just north of the older chapel building, housing a bell donated in 1937 and inscribed with lines from scripture and hymn.