Sharing a devotion? [closed]

Someone told me that this phrase is grammatically incorrect, but I do not understand why?

XYZ is a fellowship of adults sharing a devotion to encourage students.

Solution 1:

It's not ungrammatical in itself, but there is a subtle shift in meaning if a different verb form is used. The sentence as stated probably doesn't mean what is intended.

Consider

• XYZ is a fellowship of adults sharing a devotion to encourage students
• XYZ is a fellowship of adults sharing a devotion to encouraging students

The first indicates that the students are encouraged because the adults share an [unspecified] devotion. The second indicates that the object of the devotion is the students' encouragement.

I suspect that the second sense is what is intended. For that, the verb form is wrong: it needs to be a gerund. A devotion is to a noun of some sort.