The story of God's working in this world begins with the creation of this world, for indeed, He created it. We read in Genesis: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters." (Gen. 1:1-2). And just as the New Testament is known to do, when in the Gospel of John we read similar words, we learn more about the roles of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men." (John 1:1-4)
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Now, due to the rebellion of mankind and the subsequent splitting of the relationship between God and human beings, God, in His love sent His Son ("the Word" who had created all) to live among men as a man. And so Jesus was born to the virgin Mary who was later married to Joseph.
Jesus lived a blessed childhood, amazing teachers in the synagogues with his own understanding of the scriptures at the age of 12 (see Luke 2:41 ff.), and growing in maturity and wisdom. When it came time to begin his ministry (at about the age of 30), he was baptised by his cousin, John the Baptist, and tempted by the devil (but he overcame temptation), and chose 12 disciples: Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus (or Judas); Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot (Matt. 10:2-4 cf. Mark 3:16-19 & Luke 6:14-16, where the Lucan list provides "Judas, son of James" rather than Thaddaeus).
His ministry involved travelling the region, teaching, performing miracles and healings, rebuking those who led others astray and giving glory to God. However, some of the Jews at the time were jealous of Him and plotted with Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus' disciples, to arrest Jesus and have Him executed. And so it came to pass that Jesus was beaten and hung on a cross until he died. (Of course, this paragraph is a pathetically inferior summary of what is recorded in each of the four gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John - I'd highly recommend the full read of one of these to find out more fully about Jesus.)
With this, the leaders of the Jews thought that they were rid of Jesus, but they didn't realise that their murderous act was used by God - He knew it would happen - He used it to save all who put their trust in Him (see here for how this works). Furthermore, God raised Jesus from the dead in triumph on the third day. From there he continued teaching, and sent His disciples out to preach the word to the nations. After forty days, Jesus ascended into Heaven where He is now seated at the right hand of God, ready to come again once more.
After Jesus' ascension, on the day of Pentecost the believers were gathered together and the Holy Spirit, the Lord's promised gift, came upon them all and they began to speak in tongues. There were Jews from all over the known world there who heard them speaking in their own native tongue. Some thought that they were drunk, but at this Peter stood up and preached that they must 'repent and be baptised'. The Holy Spirit who had so recently been poured out on the earth was working powerfully that day, and 3,000 were added to the number of believers.
From then, the Apostles and believers lived serving and glorifying God. Many, especially the Apostles, had powers of healing and driving out demons, and the name of Jesus was preached everywhere. But many among the Jews were jealous still of the young church, as it was attracting many converts - even Gentiles (non-Jews). Many of the Christians still saw themselves as Jews, for Jesus came to fulfill the Jewish Scriptures. But the unbelieving Jews interpreted their Scriptures a different way, and would not hear of Jesus as being the promised Messiah. Among these unbelieving Jews was Saul.
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Saul was a strict and well-educated Pharisee, who strove to persecute the Christians and was present at the Stoning of Stephen, the first known Christian martyr (Acts 7-8). However, the Lord chose Saul to glorify Him, and so appeared to him on the road to Damascus (where Saul was headed to arrest Christians), which resulted in Saul's miraculous conversion, and his subsequent preaching of Christ as the Messiah. He also then used the Greek form of His name, "Paul".
Paul was soon counted as an apostle of Christ, and was sent on Missions to the Gentiles. He travelled all of the region, establishing and encouraging churches there, preaching salvation in Christ, through faith, apart from the law. This message often infuriated the Jews of his day, even the Jewish believers, as the Gentile converts were not even required to become circumcised to be saved. Paul is also well-known for the letters he wrote, 13 of which are counted as Scripture, being recorded in the New Testament.
Meanwhile in Jerusalem the Church tried hard to associate itself with the Jews, as the Jews were somewhat protected by the Romans. James, the son of Zebedee, became the second Christian martyr and the first of the apostles (apart from Judas Iscariot) to die, being executed under order of Herod Agrippa I in 41 AD. Peter was arrested soon after, but escaped with the help of the Holy Spirit (Acts 12). He embarked on an extensive missionary journey, ending up in Rome where he was executed under Nero's persecution of Christians in 64 AD.
For most of the early church period (following Christ's ascension), leadership of the Jerusalem Church rested with James, the brother of the Lord, a devout and law-abiding Jewish believer, revered by his followers. James was murdered by the Jewish High priest in 62 AD.
By the year 64 AD, the divide between Judaism and Christianity had become almost complete: not only were Christians free from the need to be circumcised (the surest sign of the Jewish faith), but they were not expected to live according to the Jewish customs and dietary laws. Furthermore, the Jewish Sabbath (Saturday) was soon replaced by a day of worship on the day that Christ rose from the dead (Sunday).
Tensions between the Jews and the Romans were also growing stronger. In 65 AD the Jews rebelled, holding out for four years until Emperor Vaspian's forces broke down the walls of Jerusalem in 70 AD, and looted and burned the temple and synagogues. The Holy City was destroyed, as was any mutual association between the Jews and the Christians, for the leaders of the Jerusalem Church had been warned in a vision to flee the city earlier and this flight guaranteed the break between the Jewish Church and the Christian one.
The Story of the Church Universal covers the period from 70 AD to 312 AD in the Christian Church, and covers such events as the forming of the Bible, great persecutions and heresies, and the lead-up to the acceptance of Christianity as the official religion of Rome. Read it here.