Good question Josh and good points Jon,
I agree with Jon that God does have a prescribed way in which He requires us to worship Him.
We must worship God His way.
The way God requires for us to worship Him is found in Scripture.
We know how to worship God in Scripture because only Scripture reveals who God truly is.
Jesus said in the gospel of John "God is spirit , and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." (John 4:24)
One of the greatest hindrances to worship in Church is a lack of understanding the truth of who God is.
Everything in Church should therefore call our attention to the character and works of God.
The character and works of God are seen most clearly in Jesus Christ.
Infact, it is only on the basis of Christ that any worship is acceptable to God.
All acceptable worship will be based on what Christ has done in light of the character of God.
Anything that is done in Church that edifies believers will therefore be based on what Christ has done with the understanding of His character.
If anything distracts us from this then it should be done away with.

It can be hard to decide whether a podium or a steeple magnifies Christ. This is where things can become very difficult when dealing with Church services. If these things become big issues then perhaps we do not have our focus on the right place. If we have the right view of God I think these things will not be a big issue. In the past the podium has been raised in order to show the superiority of God's word in the service. Raised podiums are good things if they remind us of how important God's word is. At other times the podium is glass and hard to even identify because people do not want a podium to distract from the message. I can see value in this so long as the word of God is clearly and faithfully preached.
In the long run these issues appear to be minor so long as the Word of God is clearly spoken.
There are other issues on the other hand that are a big deal.

what belongs in a church service?

(response to Josh's last post)
Great Question Brother!

It seems the Old Testament displays a clear picture of how God MUST be worshipped. I think about the accounts of worship being done in ways that were not prescribed in scripture. Nadab and Abihu for example offering the strange fire on the altar -> they were killed. King Uziah as well, coming into the presence of God when only the Preists were allowed to do so is another good example.

But what about today? Has God revealed to us a clear order of worship that is pleasing to Him?

This question is often understood as the regulative principle vs. the normative principle.

To keep this comment brief I am only making a couple of comments. To delve deeper into the subject of the regulative vs. normative principle should be for another post (if people are interested).

I believe holding to a strict regulative principle standpoint can be taken to an extreme. to say that one worships only in a way that is displayed in the bible sounds good but often it seems that displays itself in narrow ways such as not using instruments and only singing out of the psalms (i use those examples as they hit close to home as a music leader).

with that "only what is displayed in scripture" standpoint, how does one justify having sunday school? was that displayed in scripture? what about building churches and meeting inside of them? what about making bulletins and having an order of service? it seems this line of thought to me has many loopholes.

i believe an over riding principle in the corporate worship service should be to build up the believers. This happens through the preaching and teaching of God's word, singing psalms hymns and spiritual songs, and praying. In 1 Corinthians 12-14 we see Paul states several times that in the gathering of believers what is done should be done for the edification of believers (12:7; 14:5; 14:12; 14:26). i find this to be helpful and deciding what belongs in the worship service. the bible is clear that the public reading of scripture belongs there, it is clear that singing belongs there, it is clear that prayer belongs there. these are things that i dont believe can be replaced and should be done in a way that edifies the believers.

Any thoughts?

What belongs in a church service?

Related to the idea of culture: How are we to decide what belongs in a church service and what does not? How much variation is service styles is OK? Did God intend that we only include in this service what scripture expressly teaches or demonstrates? Alternatively, did He intend that we include anything that is not expressly prohibited by scripture? Something in between?