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Although the verses in Matthew chapter 16 do not give us the beginning of the first church, they do give us an exact prediction of its origin, including the following:

This church was not yet built at the time Jesus was speaking (vs. 18).

This church would be built by Christ, Who would also be its foundation (vs. 18).

This church would belong to Christ (vs. 18).

This church would be built on the confession that Jesus is Christ (vss. 16,18).

Peter would open (symbolically) the doors of this church (vs. 19).

So then, when did these things happen, and when did the first church come into existence? Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them (Acts 2:41). This verse, recorded by Luke, tells us the result of the sermon Peter and the other apostles preached on Pentecost. The Bible notes that the apostles had stayed in Jerusalem after Jesus’ ascension, waiting for the promise of the Father (i.e., the arrival of the Holy Spirit; cf. Acts 1:4,12; 2:1). When the Holy Spirit was sent, the apostles began to speak in different languages (Acts 2:4-11). Many people believed, but there were also some who mocked (Acts 2:13). Then, Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and preached to those who were listening to him (Acts 2:14). After showing convincing evidence of the Messianic veracity of Jesus, Peter declared, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36, emp. added). Luke’s account takes our minds back to the words of Jesus. Jesus had predicted that Peter would open the doors of the church, and that the church would be built on his confession (Matthew 16:16-18). In Acts 2:36, Peter not only opened the doors of Christianity, but he also confessed once more that Jesus was the Lord and the Christ (i.e., the rock on which the church would be built). Therefore, it was on this exact day that the words of Jesus were fulfilled. Acts 2:41 indicates that those who believed “were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.” The question then becomes, “To what were the people who believed and were baptized added?” Verse 47 gives us the answer: “the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.” [NOTE: The ASV omits the word “church” and notes “them,” but the idea is the same. Concerning this rendering, Boles stated that the meaning is that those who were baptized, “were by this process added together, and thus formed the church”. This is the first biblical text that speaks of the church as being in existence; it is at this exact moment in Scripture that the presence of the first church is noted. Peter had opened the doors of the church through the preaching of the Word. He had confessed once more the deity of Jesus. And the Lord had added to His church the people who obeyed.
Which church, then, is the oldest church? The answer is, of course, the church that Christ built in Acts 2. But what church was this? Was this the beginning of the Catholic Church (as Catholicism teaches)? Note that Christ said He was going to build His church (Matthew 16:18), not the Catholic Church. Greet one another with a holy kiss. The churches of Christ greet you (Romans 16:16, emp. added). Although there were various congregations that praised God in many parts of the world when the apostle Paul wrote his letter to the Romans, there was still a unique characteristic about them: all of them belonged to Christ (i.e., they were churches of Christ), for Christ said that He would build His church. Therefore, all of them honorably bore the name of their Founder—Christ. Acts 2 informs us that the church of Christ was established in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost (c. A.D. 30). It had a unique foundation, Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11). Christ, not Peter, was the cornerstone of the church (cf. 1 Peter 2:4-8). The church was comprised of a group of believers who took the title “Christians” (not “Catholics”) by divine authority (Acts 11:26; cf. Isaiah 62:2). They made up the only body of Christ (Ephesians 1:22-23; 4:4). The church also was considered the bride of Christ (2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:24; Revelation 19:7). Christ was its authority and its Head (Colossians 1:18); it had no earthly head. In its organization, human names and divisions were condemned (1 Corinthians 1:10-13). This was the wonderful, divine institution that God established on Earth—the church of His Son, the church of Christ.

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I'm not sure why we are talking about this here, but I'll bite.

First, according to biblical scholarship (which is taught in every seminary), the gospels were not written until at least 40 years after these events occurred and it probably was a lot longer than that. So at this time there really was a Christian church as we would use that term.

Second, when the word "church" is used in the New Testament it seems to mean the people, the followers of Yeshua, and not any formal organization.

Third, the first organized Christian church under a single leadership was the Jewish Christian church in Jerusalem headed at first by Peter and then by Yeshua's brother James. They sent out apostles who founded churches in many countries. All these churches looked to the Church in Jerusalem for leadership and support. This original Christian "denomination" survived for over a thousand years and was familiar to Mohammed, who founded Islam.

After Paul's "conversion" he went to study with Peter and at first he accepted Peter's leadership and authority. But Paul's doctrine, theology, his ideas and philosophies began to drift away from Peter and James', causing conflict between them. Eventually Peter and James came to call him "the enemy" and "the liar," terms previously used to mean Satan.

Paul traveled extensively, preaching his own version of Christianity, and began to found churches based on these principles that were at odds with the original Christian church of Peter and James. Paul's heretical church is what became the Catholic Church, and then the Protestant Church.