Jesus did not establish a church at all.  The apostles/disciples all believed that Jesus would return as they saw him leave---in glory.  They believed that THE END would occur during their lifetimes.  Sooo, no church established.  At the end of the Apostolic era---perhaps John was still alive---the bodies of Christians, that WE would call the church today, began to organize more.

The "church" in the early centuries was certainly more democratic than anything we have today.  People did elect their bishops.  In the "Didache" [Teaching of the Twelve Apostles], dating from the early second century, addresses the people who participated in the Eucharist "to appoint for yourselves bishops and deacons worthy of the Lord." 
[trans. Kirsopp Lake, Loeb Classical Library [London: William Heinemann, 1930] 15.1.