What then is the sustaining ministry of pastoral care? The term sustaining, in the pastoral care context, may be defined as an attempt "to console and strengthen; to stand alongside to lend support and encouragement when the situation cannot be changed, at least not immediately; to carryon a ministry of sustenance as long as circumstances preclude healing."4 Although the aim of pastoral care is to bring distressed individuals to wholeness, there are times when this may not be possible or, at least, not in the near future. This is the period that calls for the sustaining ministry of pastoral care. ''Thus,'' writes LeRoy Aden, "sustaining is a distinct ministry, important in its own right, though it also presses toward healing when that is possible.") The experience of negativity among depressed individuals is not something that can be immediately fixed. It lasts for a couple of months and for others, it fluctuates over a long period of time. Hence there is a very special place for a sustaining ministry for these individuals even as they receive treatment through psychotherapy or antidepressants. The principle of wu wei can serve an important role in the sustaining ministry of pastoral care.