How to call methods of a Service from activity?

There is sample code for this right in the Service documentation, under "Local Service Sample":

http://developer.android.com/reference/android/app/Service.html#LocalServiceSample

Also for those people suggesting aidl -- if your service and client are all part of your own .apk and running in the same process (the default behavior), there is no need for aidl; it is just additional complexity that doesn't give you anything.

Here is an example that might help
Server.java:

package com.example.bindservice.binder;

import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Date;

import android.app.Service;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.os.Binder;
import android.os.IBinder;

public class Server extends Service {

    IBinder mBinder = new LocalBinder();

    @Override
    public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
        return mBinder;
    }

    public class LocalBinder extends Binder {
        public Server getServerInstance() {
            return Server.this;
        }
    }

    public String getTime() {
        SimpleDateFormat mDateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss");
        return mDateFormat.format(new Date());
    }
}

Client.java

package com.example.bindservice.binder;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.ComponentName;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.content.ServiceConnection;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.os.IBinder;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.View.OnClickListener;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.TextView;
import android.widget.Toast;

import com.example.bindservice.binder.Server.LocalBinder;

public class Client extends Activity {

    boolean mBounded;
    Server mServer;
    TextView text;
    Button button;

    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.main);

        text = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.text);
        button = (Button) findViewById(R.id.button);
        button.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {
            public void onClick(View v) {
                text.setText(mServer.getTime());
            }
        });
    }

    @Override
    protected void onStart() {
        super.onStart();

        Intent mIntent = new Intent(this, Server.class);
        bindService(mIntent, mConnection, BIND_AUTO_CREATE);
    };

    ServiceConnection mConnection = new ServiceConnection() {
        @Override
        public void onServiceDisconnected(ComponentName name) {
            Toast.makeText(Client.this, "Service is disconnected", 1000).show();
            mBounded = false;
            mServer = null;
        }

        @Override
        public void onServiceConnected(ComponentName name, IBinder service) {
            Toast.makeText(Client.this, "Service is connected", 1000).show();
            mBounded = true;
            LocalBinder mLocalBinder = (LocalBinder)service;
            mServer = mLocalBinder.getServerInstance();
        }
    };

    @Override
    protected void onStop() {
        super.onStop();
        if(mBounded) {
            unbindService(mConnection);
            mBounded = false;
        }
    };
}