Good question. To us, all three terms and how they’re used are pretty interchangeable and we’ve had churches refer to our process using each term over the years. To us, discipleship is a term churches use routinely, but it’s not one that the men in those churches use on a regular basis. While the idea of discipleship is clearly important, the word itself is a little “churchy” and to many men it connotes something they don’t understand or something aren’t ready for. Leader development has the opposite problem. Everybody knows what it means, but it’s generic enough that nobody knows what it really entails in the context you mean it. Mentoring, on the other hand, is more concretely understood. It brings to mind a clear picture of someone with experience engaging someone with less experience, and it feels important and valuable.
Since we’re trying to appeal to men and get them interested in growing as husbands, fathers, leaders, friends, and most importantly as Jesus-followers, we like mentoring. But use whatever term you like and fits your context. Seriously, call it whatever you want.
