In contexts marked by deep socio-economic inequality, religious communities frequently proclaim hope as a central theological response to poverty and human suffering. Yet within many church contexts the experience and meaning of hope are not socially neutral but shaped by differing material realities among believers themselves. It argues that in economically unequal congregations the theological language of hope may be interpreted in fundamentally different ways by those who inhabit positions of poverty and those who occupy positions of relative privilege. While hope may function for the poor as a vital resource for sustaining dignity and endurance amid hardship, it may simultaneously reinforce narratives of stability, blessing and moral reassurance for the economically advantaged. Drawing on the hermeneutic of Paul Ricoeur, the paper offers a practical-theological reading of hope as a symbolic and interpretive discourse embedded within lived religious experience in South African church contexts. It argues that without critical reflection the discourse of hope risks obscuring socio-economic inequalities within communities that proclaim justice and human dignity. By engaging a Ricoeurian hermeneutic, the paper contributes to practical theology by showing how hope can be reinterpreted as a transformative theological resource that both sustains dignity and critically confronts inequality within faith communities.