Organiser John Hebenton, the vicar at St George's Anglican Church Gate Pa, said this weekend was decided on for the workshops as it held significance coming up to the anniversary of the Christchurch mosque attacks.
As a society, we tended to "lump people together" according to their faith, McKean said.
"Christians are like 'this', Muslims are like 'this' ... there are things we have in common and things we differ over, but that doesn't mean we can't get on."
Tauranga had become more diverse, and the city should celebrate that, McKean said.
"Diversity is God's gift to us, and division is what we've made of it," he said.
However, he said New Zealanders didn't generally think about religious diversity very often, "except when they see conflict".
"But they don't always understand what the conflict's about ... We are becoming more diverse, but there's still a lot of discomfort."
'Part of what we're doing is saying 'these people are here'. They are New Zealanders ... how can we create a society which welcomes them and gives them space to be who they are?"
About 20 people attended yesterday's workshop, McKean said, "all from different community groups [and] faith groups".
About 15 people had registered for today's workshop, he said, but he felt people were staying away because of fears around coronavirus.
"An appreciation of differences, and that they will not generalise" was what presenter Selva Ramasami said he wanted people to take away from the workshops.
Ramasami is a Hindu and travelled from Wellington for the event.
'What we want to do is find the common ground," he said.
Teacher Madeleine Dohanos, who is of the Baha'i faith, said she attended yesterday's workshop because of an interest in religious diversity.
"I work with international students, so this is about ways that I can have more understanding of where they come from," she said.
Roman Catholic Jake Ibay said he also taught international students and workshops like this gave people an "advantage".
"It's all about awareness of different backgrounds."
